{"id":7669,"date":"2020-04-26T12:04:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-26T10:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/?p=7669"},"modified":"2026-04-13T12:12:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T10:12:22","slug":"software-testing-basics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usersnap.com\/blog\/software-testing-basics\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Different Types of Software Testing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Most developers have no clue about how testing is actually done, and how valuable the understanding of software testing basics can be for developers who really want to excel in their careers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I owe a large amount of the success I have had in my career as a software developer to my background in testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because I learned it the hard way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Back in my days…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Quick Usersnap PSA: if you need a guide to customer feedback<\/a>, skip jump and fly your way over there now! That’s all!<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

I’m John Sonmez, best selling author of “Soft Skills: The Software Developer’s Life Manual” and one of my first official jobs in the software development<\/a> industry was that of a tester.<\/p>\n\n\n

Try Usersnap for Software Testing<\/h2>Try Usersnap Now<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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In this post, I will tell you about the 7 most used software testing approaches and how you can use them to become a better software developer.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My job entailed looking at stacks of papers that were printed out by a new printer we were testing at HP and comparing them to the \u201cmaster\u201d printouts produced by older printers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t actually do the comparison of the pages myself. Instead, I would execute the tests, someone else would compare the printouts, and I\u2019d look at the differences they flagged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With each difference, I would review and decide, based on the test, whether the result was a true failure or defect. If it was the latter, I\u2019d write up a defect report for a developer to look at\u2014and possibly fix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That background caused me to look at the code I was writing a little differently and to realize that my job as a software developer wasn\u2019t just to implement features and fix bugs, but to make the software I was writing work correctly and as intended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seems like a simple and obvious idea, but if you don\u2019t at least know the basics of testing, you probably aren\u2019t going to have the best idea of what \u201cworking correctly and as intended\u201d actually means<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The basic idea behind software testing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Usually, new programmers don\u2019t understand testing. They don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a surface level, it can seem a bit extraneous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do we really need to test that code? I ran it on my machine and it worked perfectly, so let\u2019s just ship it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Tweet “Testing, at its core, is really about reducing risk.”]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal of testing software<\/a> is not to find bugs<\/a> or to make software better<\/a>. It\u2019s to reduce risk by proactively finding and eliminating problems which would most greatly impact the customer using the software. Users may experience frustration with your software if it lags and hangs. Lagging and hanging can be reasons for the overall slow performance of their machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This goal is especially relevant to testing enterprise software<\/a> with complex digital workflows. In such a case, ensuring smooth functioning, usability, compatibility, and data consistency of the software is of paramount importance due to the higher impact of any issues uncovered after a release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customers can be impacted by the frequency of an error or undesired functionality, or by the severity of the problem.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n