What is testing?

This identifies and addresses issues to ensure the performance meets business requirements and delivers a quality user experience.

Testing involves executing a range of test cases, encompassing all positive and negative scenarios of software performance, which allows testers to gauge whether the software is ready to launch. Single components and entire systems are evaluated to determine if they meet the specified requirements for performance.

Forms of software testing

• Integration testing: It’s important to test that different software components, apps, and APIs work together seamlessly after being integrated with new apps.

• Unit testing: Testing individual components or units of an application or software, including specific functions or modules to ensure proper functioning.

• System testing: The comprehensive evaluation of an entire system and its components to ensure it meets requirements.

• Performance testing: This involves evaluating an app's performance under different load conditions, simulating a high volume, messages, or concurrent users to test performance.

• Security testing: This helps to identify vulnerabilities or potential security risks to a newly launched app or components.

• User acceptable testing: Involves engaging end-users to provide direct feedback about an app's usability, functionality, and overall user experience.

• Regression testing: A type of testing that helps ensure the reliability of specific software changes.

• Compatibility testing: Ensures that an app works with different systems, allowing users to enjoy a seamless in-app experience regardless of their preferred device.

The two methods for testing

• Manual testing: Developers or testers execute the planned test cases and validate results against expected outcomes by hand. This approach requires more time and resources to run tests and document outcomes. It’s commonly used for small projects with a limited scope.

• Automated testing: A range of automated tools exist to execute tests efficiently and accurately with minimal manual intervention. Automation reduces the time required for testing, making it appealing for larger testing projects and businesses with fewer resources to dedicate to testing.

Aspects of the testing process

• Identification: The first step is spotting software application defects, bugs, or anomalies.

• Validation: Helps to ensure the software meets business requirements and functions as expected.

• Documentation: Testing includes recording the results of the testing process to provide reference and avoid future issues.

• Quality assurance: Review the code quality to ensure the code meets standards and guidelines.

• Debugging: This step serves to locate the source of a bug or defect to prepare for debugging.

• Performance check: The measure of performance and looking to find areas of improvement

Testing is an iterative process that continues throughout the development lifecycle of an app. It involves planning, establishing a test case to be evaluated, executing, and reviewing the test. It’s often paired with debugging, or finding and fixing errors in an app or system. API platforms like Sendbird provide testing and debugging tools that aid developers in the process of launching in-app communications that work right from the start.