Manual QA: Testing for Beginners - Types of QA Testing - Part 9

Summary

In this QA tutorial, Alex USA Days discusses various types of software testing, including black box, white box, and gray box testing. He also covers positive and negative testing, functional and non-functional testing, and common types like acceptance, regression, API, exploratory, boundary, smoke, and beta testing. The video also touches on stress, load, accessibility, localization, and security testing, highlighting their importance in the QA process. Alex encourages viewers to explore the provided links for a deeper understanding of each test type.

Takeaways

• 📚 There are over 100 types of software testing methods, but QA professionals typically use around five to seven main types.
• 🔍 The three main categories of testing are Black Box (no access to internal code), White Box (access to internal code), and Gray Box (partial access to internal code).
• 🔑 Positive testing checks the application works as expected under normal conditions, while negative testing simulates incorrect user actions to see how the application handles errors.
• 🔄 Functional testing is based on requirements and acceptance criteria, ensuring the application performs its intended functions.
• 💡 Non-functional testing focuses on the system's stability, performance, and security rather than its features.
• 🎯 Acceptance testing confirms that features meet business requirements and are ready for release.
• 🔄 Regression testing is crucial for verifying that new changes or bug fixes do not break existing functionality.
• 🌐 API testing checks the communication between the front end and back end of an application.
• 🔍 Exploratory testing relies on the tester's experience to discover bugs by navigating and interacting with the application in unconventional ways.
• 🚦 Boundary testing verifies the application's behavior at the edge of input value ranges, ensuring it correctly handles minimum and maximum values.
• 🌬️ Smoke testing is a preliminary check to ensure the basic functionality of an application is intact before proceeding with more detailed testing.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of the video by Alex USA Days?

The video focuses on explaining various types of software testing, their purposes, and how they are conducted within the quality assurance process.

How many types of testing are mentioned in the video?

The video mentions around 100 different types of testing, but emphasizes that one doesn't need to remember all of them, just be aware of their existence.

What are the three main categories of testing discussed in the video?

The three main categories of testing discussed are black box testing, white box testing, and gray box testing.

What is the difference between black box and white box testing?

Black box testing is when you have no knowledge of the system's internal workings, while white box testing involves having access to the code and understanding the internal functions.

What is meant by positive and negative testing?

Positive testing, also known as happy path testing, verifies the application's functionality as intended by the user. Negative testing involves providing invalid input or performing unexpected actions to see how the application handles them.

What is the purpose of functional and non-functional testing?

Functional testing checks the application against its requirements and acceptance criteria, ensuring it performs its intended functions. Non-functional testing focuses on the system's stability, performance, and other attributes that don't directly relate to its functionality.

Why is acceptance testing important?

Acceptance testing is crucial as it verifies that features are implemented according to business requirements, ensuring the application meets the expectations of the end users.

What is the role of regression testing in the QA process?

Regression testing is performed to ensure that new changes, bug fixes, or releases have not introduced new issues or broken existing functionality.

Why is API testing considered important in the context of automation testing?

API testing is significant in automation testing because it verifies the communication between the front end and back end. It's a good starting point for those looking to transition from manual testing to automation.

What is exploratory testing and how does it differ from other testing methods?

Exploratory testing relies on the tester's experience and approach to discover bugs by navigating outside of standard testing processes. It's less structured and more flexible compared to other testing methods.

Can you explain the concept of boundary testing with an example?

Boundary testing involves verifying the boundary values of input ranges. For example, if an application allows use only for individuals aged between 21 and 100, boundary testing would check that a 21-year-old can use it (positive test), a 20-year-old cannot (negative test), a 100-year-old can (positive test), and a 101-year-old cannot (negative test).

What is the significance of smoke testing in the QA process?

Smoke testing, also known as sanity testing, is an initial verification to ensure that major functionality of the application works as expected. It's a preliminary check to determine if the build is stable enough to proceed with further testing.

What are the differences between closed and public beta testing?

Closed beta testing involves a limited number of users, while public beta testing is open to everyone. Both are conducted in a production environment to identify issues before the final release.

How does stress testing differ from load testing?

Stress testing aims to determine the stability and performance of an application under heavy loads or prolonged usage to find its breaking point. Load testing, on the other hand, measures how a system performs under expected heavy loads without the intention of breaking it.

Why is accessibility testing important?

Accessibility testing is crucial to ensure that the application is inclusive and usable by as many people as possible, including those with disabilities, by verifying features like speech recognition and compatibility with reading systems.

What is the primary objective of security testing?

The primary objective of security testing is to identify and fix system vulnerabilities and potential exploits early in the development process to prevent infiltration, data leaks, and cyber attacks.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Testing Types and Test Plans

In this segment, Alex introduces the new module on quality assurance, focusing on various types of testing and test plans. Alex emphasizes that while there are over a hundred types of testing, one doesn't need to remember all of them but should be aware of their existence. The main types discussed include black box, white box, and gray box testing, which differ based on the tester's access to the internal code and workings of the software. Black box testing is manual and code-agnostic, white box testing involves coding knowledge and access to the codebase, and gray box testing is a mix of both. Alex also mentions positive and negative testing, functional and non-functional testing, and provides resources for further reading.

05:02

🔍 Common Testing Types and Their Applications

Alex continues by discussing common testing types encountered in the QA industry. Acceptance testing is highlighted as a crucial process to verify features against business requirements. Regression testing is also emphasized, with a focus on its role in confirming that bug fixes do not break existing functionalities. API testing is noted as a growing area, especially for those moving into automation. Exploratory testing is described as a more freeform approach based on tester experience, while boundary testing is explained with examples like age limits for using machinery. Smoke testing, or sanity testing, is introduced as preliminary verification before full QA begins.

10:03

🚀 Advanced Testing Concepts

This part delves into more advanced testing types. Beta testing is explained as early verification in a production environment, with a distinction between closed and public beta testing. Stress testing is introduced to assess stability and performance under heavy loads, while load testing focuses on how a system performs under expected limits. Accessibility testing ensures that applications are inclusive, and localization testing verifies that applications are suitable for different language and regional settings. Security testing is also covered, aiming to find and fix vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.

15:05

🛠️ Developer Testing and Integration Testing

Alex concludes the discussion on testing types by differentiating between QA testing and developer testing. Unit testing, performed by developers, is described as functional verification at the smallest level, ensuring individual functions operate correctly. Integration testing is also explained, involving multiple functions or modules working together. The importance of these tests in ensuring system components work harmoniously is highlighted.

20:06

👋 Closing Remarks

In the final paragraph, Alex wraps up the video with a brief thank you to viewers, encouraging them to like, subscribe, and comment if they have any questions or topics to discuss. He mentions his intention to continue posting content on becoming a QA tester, covering both manual and automation aspects.

Keywords

💡Quality Assurance (QA)

Quality Assurance (QA) is a way of preventing mistakes or failures in a product or a service. It is a process that involves testing and checking to make sure everything works as it should. In the video, QA is the main theme, as it discusses various types of testing that are part of the QA process to ensure software quality.

💡Black Box Testing

Black Box Testing is a method of testing where the tester doesn't know how the system works internally. It focuses on the functionality of the software and how it responds to inputs without any knowledge of the internal code. The video uses the term 'Black Box' to describe a type of testing where testers interact with the software as an end user would, without access to the underlying code.

💡White Box Testing

White Box Testing, also known as clear box testing or glass box testing, is a testing method where the tester has knowledge of the internal structure, workings, and coding of the software. It is used to test the functionality of the system from the inside out. The video mentions that in white box testing, testers may work alongside developers and have access to the codebase.

💡Gray Box Testing

Gray Box Testing is a software testing approach that falls between Black Box and White Box testing. In this method, the tester has some knowledge of the internal structure of the software but not complete. The video describes gray box testing as a mix where testers might have access to some code but not to others, creating a hybrid approach.

💡Positive Testing

Positive Testing, also known as 'happy path testing', is a type of testing where the tester checks if the software behaves correctly when provided with valid input. The video explains that this type of testing verifies what the user is supposed to do, such as logging in with the correct credentials.

💡Negative Testing

Negative Testing is the process of testing how the software handles invalid or unexpected input. It's about trying to 'break' the application to see how it reacts to incorrect usage. The video gives an example of testing invalid login attempts to ensure the application handles errors gracefully.

💡Functional Testing

Functional Testing is a type of testing that checks if the software meets the business requirements and if it performs its intended functions correctly. It's about verifying the application does what it's supposed to do. The video discusses functional testing as a category that includes unit testing, regression testing, and user acceptance testing.

💡Non-functional Testing

Non-functional Testing is a type of testing that evaluates the system's attributes such as stability, performance, and security. It's about ensuring the system is reliable and performs well under various conditions. The video explains non-functional testing as a way to verify the system's stability and performance.

💡Regression Testing

Regression Testing is a type of testing that verifies that a recent program or code change has not adversely affected existing features. It's often done after a bug fix or new feature addition. The video describes regression testing as a common practice where testers re-run a set of scenarios to ensure nothing breaks after changes.

💡API Testing

API Testing is the process of testing application programming interfaces (APIs) to ensure they perform as expected and meet the requirements. It's about verifying the communication between the front end and back end of a system. The video mentions API testing as a common practice, especially for those looking to get into automation.

💡Test Plan

A Test Plan is a document that outlines the testing approach, test environments, test cases, and other relevant details for a particular software testing project. The video script mentions that test plans will be discussed in the next module, implying they are an important part of the QA process.

Highlights

Introduction to different types of testing in quality assurance.

There are over 100 types of testing, but you only need to be aware of the main types.

Main types of testing include black box, white box, and gray box testing.

Black box testing is manual testing without access to the code.

White box testing involves access to the code and requires coding knowledge.

Gray box testing is a mix of black and white box testing.

Tests can be categorized as positive or negative.

Functional testing is based on requirements and acceptance criteria.

Non-functional testing focuses on system stability and performance.

Acceptance testing verifies features against business requirements.

Regression testing involves re-running scenarios after a bug fix or release.

API testing verifies communication between front end and back end.

Exploratory testing relies on testers' bug discovery approach.

Boundary testing verifies boundary values for inputs.

Smoke testing is preliminary testing to verify major functionality.

Beta testing is early version verification in a production environment.

Stress testing verifies stability and performance under heavy loads.

Load testing measures system performance under expected load volumes.

Accessibility testing ensures inclusiveness for as many people as possible.

Localization testing verifies usability and content translations for specific regions.

Security testing searches for system vulnerabilities and exploits.

Dev testing includes unit testing and integration testing.

Encouragement to explore the provided links for more types of testing.

Transition to discussing test plans and their creation.

Transcripts

hello everyone this is Alex USA days and

we're continuing with our journey lower

quality assurance from scratch so now

we're moving into a new module today

we're going to talk about types of

testing but it also has a little bit

about test plans and with the last video

we actually completed a sectional

development Technologies Okay so

there are about 100 different types of

testing even more than that there's a

lot you don't have to remember all of

them uh you just need to be aware that

they exist

we will talk about the main test uh the

main types of tests that perform during

QA it is really hard to cover in a short

video everything so I will provide links

in the description to this video where

you can where you can read more about

what kind of tests there are what kind

of tests exist

one will be to the guru 99 the other

will be to atlassian website uh

essentially you will probably maybe use

like five six seven different types uh

what kind of tests you will be what kind

of types you will be running will

greatly depend on the application you

will be testing uh customer the end the

end user who is designed for by whom and

so on so there are really a lot of

variations what kind of product you're

testing uh what kind of tests you will

be running

but on the highest level I think you can

break it up into those categories

so you will you can have black box white

box or gray box testing where black box

you provide input and then you get some

output back you verify this output you

have knowledge no knowledge of the

system so Black Box term actually comes

from programming where it means exactly

the same thing you receive some sort of

a system that you need to work with but

you have no clue how it works inside you

can't really look in the code uh so

Black Box testing is mostly like manual

testing without access to the code then

there's white box testing and um with

white box testing you do actually have

access to the code you know what's going

on inside you know the functions are

running

um and maybe you even work in the same

repository alongside with developers

maybe you're doing some automation so it

involves a good extent of coding

knowledge understanding the base the

code base of the application what it's

doing and then there's a gray box

testing where you maybe have some access

to code at some place at other places

not

it's mix of both or maybe you're just

testing something in between so you

don't really know what's going on on the

back end but you do work with API so uh

so gray box testing is essential like

mix of books when you testing front-end

back-end looking at the code or not

looking the code so it's a mix of

everything

then you can break up all the tests in

positive negative tests where positive

tests are

they also hold happy happy pass tests so

you verify what user is supposed to do

so if user needs to log in or they

provide proper login and password they

log in if the user needs to create new

account they have to have certain

complexity for the password certain

links maybe certain symbols are not

accepted uh negative testing is actually

acting like users that doesn't really

know what it's he's doing or trying to

kind of break the application or see

what happens if you provide some invalid

input do some unexpected actions from

the user and see how the application

handles it so in our example of

invalid login like we had valid as a

happy pass and valid login you try to

provide invalid password and verify that

the actual error comes up or when you

try to create an account in the password

you start typing out invalid characters

when you're trying to create new

passwords so it also should gracefully

handle it and and show some errors to

the user

then there's there's functional and

non-functional testing

so those also include a lot of different

tests different categories within them

but functional testing is the testing

where you test against the requirements

and it is an acceptance criteria based

testing so you want to look at the

actual functionality of application

what's supposed to do it includes unit

testing regression integration user

acceptance localization we'll talk about

those types of tests later and then

there's non-functional testing aware

verification of the system is more about

the stability and performance so it's

including stress testing performance

tests and load testing secure testing

and so on okay so this is like the

highest level now we're going to talk

about categories that armoire popular

and you most likely going to see them

almost in any company you work maybe a

little bit less of those or more but

this is very close to like having

everything that you're going to

encounter throughout your career

uh some of the things might not be here

now and or you might work for some

industry or startup that has some

specific testing so I definitely

recommend going into the description for

this video and checking out the links to

other types of testing just to get

familiar with them uh so you understand

there are more other possible test type

that exist okay one of the most common

types of testing that you're going to

see almost everywhere is acceptance

testing

so acceptance testing is essentially

verifying uh feature or features and

that they are implemented according to

business requirements you might also

have heard about user acceptance testing

so that's essentially the same thing you

have a story that you know in Works uh

developers finish it you do some uh

verification of the story and then you

know you're okay to be released it's

acting as described in the acceptance

criteria

uh then there's regression testing a

regression testing

they're they're

kind of two definitions of some of the

regression testing specifically evolves

or revolves around bugs that you verify

that you know nothing got broken after a

bug fix but I think uh in more

recent ways regression testing is like

standard for re-running through set of

uh scenarios after a bug fix deployment

or release uh if you're automating

regression tests and those collection

will be like the largest collection so

you'll have regression testing based on

the priority where you first will verify

P0 test case P0 being in like most

important that will be P1 P2 and P3 so

regression test suit essentially keeps

on growing you keep on adding testing

there making sure that you're covering

most or all of the functionality that

you want to verify uh once the

application is released

um if something gets outdated you know

your regression testing will get updated

and some of the tests will get removed

but this is one of the most typical

tests uh that you will be running

regression testing

uh then there is API testing not all of

the companies do API testing uh or they

do it in you know unlimited way some

companies maybe more API focused so if

you work as a manual engineer maybe

you'll not be touching API testing but

if you're looking to get into Automation

and grow I think starting with API

testing after manual testing is one of

the great ways to kind of dig in working

in that direction

so APS testing is mostly verification of

communication between front end and back

end nowadays but also essentially API

stands for application programming

interface and it is a middleware that

allows different programs to communicate

to one another so there's a layer

communication there's a communication

protocol there's a layer application

between

front-end back-end or two different apps

that will allow them to talk to one

another okay this is API this is

actually testing that part

then there's exploratory testing and

exploratory testing is verification that

relies on testers bug Discovery approach

around application functionality so you

as a tester for some experience you look

at the new application and you start

testing a little bit outside of your

normal testing process not your normal

regression or acceptance testing but

actually try to navigate yourself around

the application see what things you can

break how you can interact with them

differently that would be explorator

testing it is mostly based on the

tester's experience

um

then there's boundary testing uh

boundary testing is also quite common

and this is verification of boundary

values for example verification of

accepted age so

a good example would that would be for

example you can use some piece of

Machinery or some application only when

you reach 21 but you cannot use it if

you're older than 100 years old right so

your lower boundary will be uh 21 is

positive tests still accepted input 20

negative should not be accepted this is

your lower boundary for the acceptance

for the boundary testing right so if you

can use it started 21 on the lower

boundary you test 21 positive snare 20

negative on the upper boundary your

positive scenario would be 100 and your

negative snare would be 101 so 100

should still be accepted 101 should not

be accepted you can also throw in maybe

a scenario in the middle so let's say

50s still it's the fifth is still going

through but typically you'll see lower

boundary positive negative upper

boundary positive negative

um there is also something called Smoke

testing

um sometimes it's called

sanity testing sometimes they're

different every place will talk a little

bit differently about what smoke is or

sanit testing for them uh what I've

so through my careers signing testing is

mostly just some developers having some

build they're making sure this still

works properly before you handle it two

QA so like a very very initial

verification uh you know is my build

still is my app still launching kind of

a thing right smoke testing is uh

preliminary testing that where you

verify major functionality of the

application and that it works as

expected so you will you would load you

would log in you would I don't know if

you're using some specific application

let's say uh YouTube app you can post

the video leave a like and stuff like

that

essentially your smoke testing enables

everything else if smoke testing passes

that means all other types of tests you

can run those you can schedule those you

can do whatever but um

if small smoke testing fails means

there's something wrong you know the

build has to go back right

so smoke testing is required to enable

all other testing processes right you

don't want to start scheduling

everything until you know that your

build is pretty much stable

uh then there is a

type of testing called beta testing and

beta testing is early uh version

verification in production environment

so the environment that actual users

will be using on those servers and so on

uh there are two types of beta testing

there's closed beta which is will have

like limited number of users and there's

public beta that's going to be open to

all

um

beta is close to

release application is very close to

actually ready application but it's not

it's not there yet so the idea of the

beta testing that you will have people

try and test your system to find any

extra issues or unexpected things before

the big release and if you're into

gaming and you play uh games like either

I play ton of different games you know

there are a lot of beta testing oh and

you actually have to pay sometimes for

it so you would buy not in terms of

paying for the testing but you would buy

a game

early release or early package for the

game pay a good amount of money so also

you can get a chance to participate in

beta so you can pay you can play the

game a lot earlier than it's actually

going to be released okay

another common type of testing is stress

testing and stress testing is

verification of stability reliability

and performance of application under

heavy loads or

or and prolonged period of time uh

periods of time so

one example of stress testing would be

hey what if I have this YouTube

application and I'm trying to have

millions or billions of users launched

at the same time on different laptops

right machines and

phones and then maybe or there's a video

that I'm gonna try and play like for

hours and hours maybe 48 hours or 72

hours and see how it behaves right

depends what we're testing here is it

the app is it the system is it actual

the phone but stress testing essentially

is structured around

stability reliability and performance

application and seeing the limit how far

can you push it uh to break it right

this is stress testing how long you can

run the tests uh stress in the

application

then there's some more so there's load

testing it's kind of

close to stress testing but load testing

is measuring system how a system will

manage and perform under heavy load

volumes over time with an expected limit

so you're not actually your goal is not

to crash an application here not to

break it but just to make sure that it

handles the load properly like it's

doing what it's supposed to do uh and if

your website should handle thousand

requests at a time it should handle

sales requests it should not decrease

the performance or the performance the

response time uh will only increase in a

certain amount of a loud amount of time

so it's not going to be three or like

five minutes to load a page maybe a

couple of seconds right

then there's accessibility testing and

accessibility testing is verification of

inclusiveness of application for as many

people as possible so it includes speech

recognition reading system uh special

inputs and so on you can read a little

bit more if you're interested in that

specific testing about the accessibility

you can read the web content

accessibility guidelines but essentially

this is kind of very focused on specific

type of testing there are certain tests

like accessibility and localization

where you can have a dedicated QA doing

just that right focusing on those

specific features

then there's localization and it is

verification of usability accessibility

and content translations for a specific

language region so not only that it's

translated properly but it also makes

sense uh there's some maybe phrases that

are common for the region uh and the

overall application so it's going to be

different localization testing for

example Spain if you're trying to move

application from England and you know

create your branch in Spain

and then it's going to be different

localization testings for Spain versus

localization testing for Mexico because

the Spanish there is different right and

there's different

variations different things like a lot

of things that

specific to that region have to be

verified and there are also QA positions

that just do that localization testing

then there's security testing and

security testing is a search for system

vulnerabilities and exploits so they can

be fixed early uh for example

penetration testing that use different

tools to find weaknesses and imitate

attacks or there are tons of different

tools to uh perform uh different types

of security testing and now actually you

have a very specific Branch or

profession called cyber security

Specialists that do a lot of that

a lot of secure testing falls under

cyber security and cyber security is

actually designed to Prevail prevent

infiltration the ideal leaks and cyber

attacks where QA security is more into

finding issues during development if

there are security issues

uh and there are two other types of

testing that you're gonna hear a lot

about and they're very common but

they're not exactly QA type of tests uh

there is Dev testing where there they do

unit testing unit testing is

verification on functional level like

the smallest functions possible that

should be created by developers

alongside development effort so if you

know for example that password field

only accept letters and numbers and not

special characters a unit test that a

developer might write alongside of the

creating that function for the password

input that he'll try to pass along

special characters and the tests you

know should return at some sort of

meaningful error saying that they're not

allowed this is unit testing so they

create the tests around functions like

on Atomic very small scale right

and there's integration testing

integration testing when you have

multiple functions multiple modules

maybe multiple microservices that talk

to one another so developers would

actually build tests that will trigger

other services or other responses where

you verify multiple modules or functions

combined and you verify them as a group

so you know it's not just a plus b

equals c you also do some other

functionalities we'll see later on

involving the other modules and you know

your testing becomes more complex but

you need to do integration testing

because you need to understand that all

of the components of the system are

working properly this could be

integration testing on a functionality

level this can be also integration

testing on Hardware software level when

you try you know putting your

processor in different motherboards so

you kind of already like on the system

level now as a whole thing

uh so yeah that's in a nutshell uh I'll

probably pick a couple tests

specifically from this list that we're

going to talk a little bit more about

and I'll have additional slides uh ones

that you will see almost all the time

and then from that we will move uh into

test plans right what they are and how

you work with them how you get them how

they're created uh and yeah that's

pretty much that's pretty much it this

section is not going to be very long but

I definitely definitely recommend you go

into the description and I have uh

couple links there to show more types of

testing just read them get familiar with

them you don't need to remember them the

tests that I list here those definitely

you want to research more take notes so

like this whole list because those are

the test types of tests you're going to

be running most likely one or the other

out of that list when you join a company

right those are very common the rest

just gets familiar with them they're in

the link is in the description so you

are aware that they exist

okay so this was Alex USA days uh

hopefully you liked the video leave like

And subscribe uh leave a comment if you

want to talk about something and uh

you'll see more of those videos on how

to become QA tester from scratch from

manual and maybe some automation as well

uh I'll keep on posting like every every

weekend add more content okay thanks

everyone for watching and bye bye