Vasyl Dzhyhryniuk

You can never be sure about the quality of your in-development software unless you test it first. Conducting a thorough analysis of whether your software meets all the requirements, whether it is secure, responsive, complete, and easy to use is crucial to avoiding technical debt and making sure your software is well received after the release. And this is exactly what testers do for you.  Software testing is a process of investigation. A tester pushes your software through a great variety of tests to catch any hidden errors, unpredictable behavior, or functional inconsistencies. After every test, a tester files a detailed report that helps developers fix all the exposed issues, maintain the software error-free, and make sure it runs as intended. There are many software testing approaches today, but the most popular in the field are black-box, white-box, and grey-box testing methods. While taking drastically different approaches, these methods effectively help developers keep their code clean and functionality in check. Let us help you understand what these methods are, what they are used for, and what is the difference between white box and black box testing, as well as find out their strengths and weaknesses. Black-box testing What’s peculiar about the black-box testing method is that the testers performing it have no knowledge of the internal structure and source code of the software they’re testing. And they don’t need to have any, neither do they need to have in-depth knowledge of programming languages or outstanding coding skills to perform the tests. This is mainly because the goal of this testing method is not to dig deep into the code, going through the software’s insides, but to interact with its user interface, test its functionality, and make sure that every input and output of the system meets the specified requirements. Therefore black-box testing can also be called functional testing or specification-based testing. Such tests are performed from the point of view of end-users by an independent testing team in the course of STLC. A tester provides valid or invalid inputs and verifies the outputs against the expected outcomes. Every unexpected result and deviation is documented and reported to the development team, which helps them find and eliminate functional errors and inconsistencies early on. This method is applicable at virtually every level of software testing: unit, integration, system, and acceptance. In unit testing, the black-box ...