What is Software Testing?

Last Updated : 24 Apr, 2025

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Software testing is an important process in the Software Development

Lifecycle(SDLC). It involves verifying and validating that a Software
Application is free of bugs, meets the technical requirements set by
its Design and Development, and satisfies user requirements efficiently and
effectively.
Here we are learning Software Testing with the related topics, which are
as follows.
Table of Content
 What is Software Testing?
 Need for Software Testing
 Types of Software Testing
 Different Levels of Software Testing
 Why is Importance of Software Testing?
 Best Practices for Software Testing
 Benefits of Software Testing
It is important to learn the basics, whether it is software testing or anything
else, you always need to start from the basics and make your foundation
strong, and then proceed to the advanced level. If you want to learn
software testing in a structured approach, then you can enroll in our
Manual to Automation Testing Course.

What is Software Testing?

Software Testing is a process of verifying and validating whether
the Software Product or Application is working as expected or not. The
complete testing includes identifying errors and bugs that cause future
problems for the performance of an application.
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Software Testing Can be Divided into Two Steps:
Software testing mainly divides into the two parts, which is used in
the Software Development Process:
1. Verification: This step involves checking if the software is doing what is
supposed to do. Its like asking, "Are we building the product the right
way?"
2. Validation: This step verifies that the software actually meets the
customer's needs and requirements. Its like asking, "Are we building
the right product?"
Need for Software Testing
Software bugs can cause potential monetary and human loss. There are
many examples in history that clearly depicts that without the testing phase
in software development lot of damage was incurred. Below are some
examples:
 1985: Canada's Therac-25 radiation therapy malfunctioned due to a
software bug and resulted in lethal radiation doses to patients leaving 3
injured and 3 people dead.
 1994: China Airlines Airbus A300 crashed due to a software bug killing
264 people.
 1996: A software bug caused U.S. bank accounts of 823 customers to
be credited with 920 million US dollars.
 1999: A software bug caused the failure of a $1.2 billion military satellite
launch.
 2015: A software bug in fighter plane F-35 resulted in making it unable
to detect targets correctly.
 2015: Bloomberg terminal in London crashed due to a software bug
affecting 300,000 traders on the financial market and forcing the
government to postpone the 3bn pound debt sale.
 Starbucks was forced to close more than 60% of its outlet in the U.S.
and Canada due to a software failure in its POS system.
 Nissan cars were forced to recall 1 million cars from the market due to a
software failure in the car's airbag sensory detectors.
Types of Software Testing
Here are the Types of Software Testing mainly categorized into the two
domain, which are below.
Software Testing Types
1. Manual Testing
Manual Testing is a technique to test the software that is carried out using
the functions and features of an application. Which means manual testing
will check the defect manually with trying one by one function is working as
expected.
2. Automation Testing
Automation Testing It is a technique where the Tester writes scripts
independently and uses suitable Software or Automation Tools to test the
software. It is an Automation Process of a Manual Process. It allows for
executing repetitive tasks without the use of a Manual Tester.
Types of Manual Testing
Manual testing will be divided into further types which is following:
1. White Box Testing
White Box Testing is a software testing technique that involves testing the
internal structure and workings of a software application. The tester has
access to the source code and uses this knowledge to design test cases
that can verify the correctness of the software at the code level.
2. Black Box Testing
Black-Box Testing is a type of software testing in which the tester is not
concerned with the internal knowledge or implementation details of the
software but rather focuses on validating the functionality based on the
provided specifications or requirements.
3. Gray Box Testing
Gray Box Testing is a software testing technique that is a combination of
the Black Box Testing technique and the White Box Testing technique.
In the Black Box Testing technique, the tester is unaware of the internal
structure of the item being tested and in White Box Testing the internal
structure is known to the tester.
Here is the Black Box and White and Grey Box Testing, Let’s see the
differences between them.

S.
Black Box Testing Gray Box Testing White Box Testing
No.

This testing has

This testing has Low This testing has a medium
1. high-level
granularity. level of granularity.
granularity.

2. It is done by end-users and It is done by end-users It is generally done

also by the tester and (called user acceptance by testers and
developers. testing) and also by testers developers.
 S.
Black Box Testing Gray Box Testing White Box Testing
No.

and developers.

Here, the Internal

Here, Internals are not Here, Internals relevant to code of the
3.
required to be known. the testing are known. application and
database is known.

It is likely to be less
Most exhaustive
4. exhaustive than the other It is kind of in-between.
among all three.
two.

It provides better
It is based on requirements,
variety/depth in test cases It can exercise code
and test cases on the
5. on account of high-level with a relevant
functional specifications, as
knowledge of the variety of data.
the internals are not known.
internals.

Types of Black Box Testing

Black Box Testing will be divided into further types which is following:
1. Functional Testing
Functional Testing is a type of Software Testing in which the system is
tested against the functional requirements and specifications. Functional
testing ensures that the requirements or specifications are properly
satisfied by the application.
2. Non-Functional Testing
Non-Functional Testing is a type of Software Testing that is performed to
verify the non-functional requirements of the application. It verifies whether
the behavior of the system is as per the requirement or not. It tests all the
aspects that are not tested in functional testing.
Types of Functional Testing
Functional Testing will be divided into further types which is following:
1. Unit Testing
Unit Testing is a method of testing individual units or components of a
software application. It is typically done by developers and is used to
ensure that the individual units of the software are working as intended.
2. Integration Testing
Integration Testing is a method of testing how different units or
components of a software application interact with each other. It is used to
identify and resolve any issues that may arise when different units of the
software are combined.
3. System Testing
System Testing is a type of software testing that evaluates the overall
functionality and performance of a complete and fully integrated software
solution. It tests if the system meets the specified requirements and if it is
suitable for delivery to the end-users.
Types of Non-functional Testing
Here are the Types of Non-Functional Testing
1. Performance Testing
Performance Testing is a type of software testing that ensures software
applications perform properly under their expected workload. It is a testing
technique carried out to determine system performance in terms of
sensitivity, reactivity, and stability under a particular workload.
2. Usability Testing
Usability Testing in software testing is a type of testing, that is done
from an end user’s perspective to determine if the system is easily usable.
Usability testing is generally the practice of testing how easy a design is to
use on a group of representative users.
3. Compatibility Testing
Compatibility Testing is software testing that comes under the non
functional testing category, and it is performed on an application to check
its compatibility (running capability) on different platforms/environments.
This testing is done only when the application becomes stable.
You can learn more Software Testing Types which is included in the
Software testing in detail.

Different Levels of Software Testing

In Software testing there are Different Levels of Testing can be majorly
classified into 4 levels:
1. Unit Testing: In this type of testing, errors are detected individually from
every component or unit by individually testing the components or units
of software to ensure that they are fit for use by the developers. It is the
smallest testable part of the software.
2. Integration Testing: In this testing, two or more modules which are unit
tested are integrated to test i.e., technique interacting components, and
 are then verified if these integrated modules work as per the expectation
or not, and interface errors are also detected.
3. System Testing: In system testing, complete and integrated Software
are tested i.e., all the system elements forming the system are tested as
a whole to meet the requirements of the system.
4. Acceptance Testing: This is a kind of testing conducted to ensure that
the requirements of the users are fulfilled before its delivery and that the
software works correctly in the user’s working environment.
Why is Importance of Software Testing?