Why do we need regression testing?

by TestFortExpert on 03/11/2014

Regression testing is a type of software testing during which the previous changes to apps are being retested to make sure that all is functioning correctly. It is a common process and a vital part of the application development process. It is usually implemented by code testing professionals.

What is regression testing?

Regression testing consists of running the test case once more and checking that the alterations to a code did not cause a breakage of the functionality and no errors come back after being previously fixed.

These test cases should be implemented as often as possible with an automated regression testing tool, so that code alterations that damage how the application works can be quickly identified and fixed.

When there is something to test, regression testing starts. The regression test suite grows as the application goes further and testers add test cases that test new or rewritten code.

Soon the suite may extend to thousands of test cases that cover various application functions. Automation of regression tests becomes important because it is physically not possible to rapidly and reliably repeat all of the test cases and analyze their results. This is where TestFort team is very helpful and provides you with maximum return on your automated testing investment.

Our team has all of the features needed to make regression testing fully automated and thus to help you produce high-quality products. We perform regression testing by re-running automated functional tests of desktop and web applications as developers add new functionality to the application. Regression tests can be composed of any successful keyword, scripted or low-level functional tests that have earlier verified the desired application functionality and behavior.

To verify the tested application’s functionality and behavior, your regression testing should include checkpoints that compare the application characteristics and outputs against baselines.

The test logs clearly identify whether the regression test passed or failed and what went wrong, where the problem is and how it happened. This helps developers easily detect which recent code alterations resulted in the problems and fix them quickly. Detected issues can automatically be reported to an issue-tracking database during or after the regression test run.

You can schedule regression tests to run unattended at a specific time or 24/7 for more thorough regression testing of applications.

Regression testing with our team can be run as part of automated builds to ensure that problems caused by recent code alterations are identified and fixed as soon as possible.

You can distribute regression tests among multiple differently-configured machines and run them in parallel to shorten the regression testing cycle.

Researchers have tried to make regression testing more effective and efficient by developing regression test selection (RTS) techniques, but many problems remain, such as:

Unpredictable performance. RTS techniques sometimes save time and money, but they sometimes select most or all of the original test cases. Thus, developers using RTS techniques can find themselves worse off for having done so.
Incompatible process assumptions. Testing time is often limited (e.g., must be done overnight). RTS techniques do not consider such constraints and, therefore, can and do select more test cases than can be run.
Inappropriate evaluation models. RTS techniques try to maximize average regression testing performance rather than optimize aggregate performance over many testing sessions. However, companies that test frequently might accept less effective, but cheaper individual testing sessions if the system would, nonetheless, be well-tested over some short period of time.

So, why we do regression testing?

Regression testing, manual and automated, is very important for large software applications, as it is often difficult to know whether changing part of an issue has created a new issue for a different part of the application.

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