In the fast-paced and action packed world of Software Development, testing often goes neglected. Development is often considered as the most important part when it comes to Software, but we often forget the important role that testing plays. What good is an app that doesn’t work? Or an app that is so full of bugs and issues that people can barely use it. in this article we will be discussing about the Software Testing Trends for future.
Testing doesn’t always follow the fast rules that apply to development, but in the last decade it has seen drastic changes and new techniques. Deviating from the standard waterfall approach to testing, where software is built and then goes into the testing phase, we’ve seen the rise of Agile and DevOps methodology that integrates continuous testing.
The world of testing has finally becoming recognized as one of the more important aspects of development. More companies are now integrating bigger and better testing teams into their organizations.
As testing continues to develop, here are a few trends that you should keep an eye out for in the future.
Waterfall vs. Agile vs. DevOps Testing Methods
These three main methodologies have become the go to for a lot of companies depending on the type of product that they have and the requirement of testing that they need. Here’s the main difference between the three.
- Waterfall
Waterfall is the most traditional approach to software testing. It is a linear approach that divides the entire software development to be broken down into phases, where one phase doesn’t start until the previous one has finished. A typical phase that you’d find in the waterfall approach includes:
Requirements/Definitions – System and software design – Implementation and unit testing – integration and system testing – operation and maintenance.
Once each process is finished, they will push the project to the next phase and if there is a bug, then the entire cycle is back to being repeated. The best time to use this process is when you have a set detailed plan that is not going to be changed.
- Agile
Agile included a more futuristic way of thinking and is aimed at solving a lot of problems that people were facing in the waterfall approach, mainly time wasted in case a bug was found after the product was completely finished and then having to run the entire cycle of development and testing again.
With the Agile approach, the entire process was broken down into smaller bits and pieces – labeled scrums. These were short tasks that needed to be developed and tested before it could be pushed further. It helped reduce the load since now instead of the entire project going through rigorous development and testing phrase, now only smaller sections were required.
- DevOps
DevOps took things a step further and in a different direction all together. DevOps sought to combine the two separate teams of development and operations into one functioning unit. Development and Operations no longer had to wait until the other one was done, but now they could actually work together to develop and simultaneously test the app side by side. Each block of code would be written and tested before it could even be pushed into production.
DevOps helped reduce a lot of time wastage by utilizing continuous integration, continuous improvement and continuous development and allowed companies to save months if not years on their production cycle.
Emerging Software Testing Trends
1. Rise of DevOps
While we have already seen the integration of DevOps by many firms, it still has a long way to go. More companies are going to start integrating DevOps into their firms, replacing the traditional waterfall approach to testing. DevOps will help shift the focus from quality assurance (QA) to quality engineering (QE).
2. Open Source Tools
Open source tools helps speed up a lot of tasks and in general makes things easier. In the future, they are expected to play much bigger roles. Open source tools offer benefits such as the freedom to customize, flexible in nature and free to use. This allows companies more freedom to select the tools they need, modify it according to their business requirements and save on hefty costs that are commonly associated with proprietary software. We definitely expect to see more companies rely on open source tools and we also expect to see more open source tools when it comes to testing.
3. Machine Learning and AI come to testing
ML and AI will not only bring massive changes to development but also testing. It will help transform and improve processes, adapt to the changing needs of the testing and in general in processes such as test suite optimization, predictive analysis, traceability and defect analysis. The integration of ML and AI will help improve the testing phrase by integrating more rigorous testing that is adaptable to the needs of the company.
4. IoT
The Internet of Things, shortened to IoT, is one of the fastest growing technologies and it is proving to become a huge challenge for testing automation. Technology that is interconnected with each other through the internet, controlled by hardware that connects them to the internet proves huge security risks for companies and users alike. With the constant data transmission, testing needs to ensure that the data being passed through is secure at all times. This is going become a major trend in the future when it comes to testing. Security testing is going to play a huge role.
5. Big Data Testing
IoT is paving the way for big data, where these devices that are constantly connected to the internet are continuously sending and receiving information. This data requires a unique way of testing, and this is where Big Data Testing enters the picture. It helps test the quality of data and any security loopholes where the data can leak through. The large amount of datasets can’t be processed by traditional computing techniques and big data is already on the rise as a major trend, so it’s no surprise that big data testing will follow through as well.
6. Automation
The final big testing trend that we expect to see is the integration of automation. As the list of tasks become longer and more complex, simple testing systems are not going to be able to keep up. Testing has become a more tedious task where not everything will be possible to be done by people constantly writing codes. This is where automation will play a huge role. Automation will help eliminate more repetitive and time consuming tasks, while more customized needs can be managed by physical testers. We expect to definitely see automation, along with automation tools become more prominent in the world of testing.
Testing is one of the most important aspects of development, even if it is not as glorified as development. Testing not only ensure that the software runs smoothly but also looks for major bugs and security loopholes that can cost the company millions of dollars as well as users.
