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Types of Software Testing (2025 Guide): Functional vs Non-Functional, Security, Contract & CI/CD

Automation Testing

Shreya Srivastava

Aug 2, 2024

Different Types of Software Testing in Engineering

Introduction to Software Testing

Imagine launching a new app only to find that users can't get past the login screen or experience frequent crashes.
These issues can tarnish your brand's reputation and lead to significant financial losses.
Software testing helps prevent these scenarios by identifying and addressing potential problems before they reach your users.
Checkout: Testing Checklist for Functional and Non-Functional Testing

Evolution of Testing Methodologies

As software development practices evolve, so do testing methodologies. Gone are the days when a few manual tests sufficed.
Today's applications are complex, with interconnected components that require comprehensive testing strategies.
This evolution has led to the development of various testing types, each designed to address specific aspects of software quality.

A Glimpse into Testing Classifications

Software testing is broadly classified into functional and non-functional testing. Functional testing ensures the software functions as intended, covering everything from individual units to integrated systems.
Non-functional testing, on the other hand, focuses on performance, security, usability, and compatibility, ensuring the software performs well under different conditions and meets user expectations.

The main types of software testing are functional (unit, integration, system, acceptance) and non-functional (performance, security, usability, compatibility). Teams also use specialized methods—exploratory, regression, smoke/sanity, mobile, API, contract, and accessibility—to cover risk end-to-end.

Evolution of Testing Methodologies

A Glimpse into Testing Classifications

Evolution of Testing Methodologies

A Glimpse into Testing Classifications

Functional testing is the backbone of software quality assurance. It ensures that every feature of your application works as intended.

Let's explore the key types of functional testing and why they are crucial for your software's success.

Unit Testing

Unit testing involves testing individual components or units of code, usually at the function or method level. This type of testing is typically performed by developers as they write code.

Key Focus Areas:
The main goal is to validate that each unit of the software performs as expected.
Key focus areas include correct function behavior, individual class validation, and logic within specific modules.

Developer Involvement and Benefits:
Developers write and run these tests, ensuring that their code works as intended before integrating it with other parts of the application.
This early detection of defects helps maintain code quality and reduces the cost of bug fixes later in the development cycle.

Importance of Quick Execution and Continuous Integration:
Unit tests are usually automated and run quickly, making them ideal for continuous integration (CI) pipelines.
By integrating unit tests into CI workflows, teams can receive immediate feedback on code changes, ensuring that new commits do not introduce regressions.

Integration Testing

Integration testing verifies that different modules or services within an application work together correctly

Focus on Interface Connections:
This testing type focuses on the connections and data exchange between different modules.
For example, it checks if an API call from one module correctly retrieves data from another module.

Examples: Common examples include verifying database interactions, API calls, and microservices communication. Successful integration tests help ensure that combined components function seamlessly, providing a stable foundation for the entire application.

System Testing

Evaluation of the Entire System's Functionality:
System testing evaluates the complete and integrated software application to verify that it meets the specified requirements.
This type of testing is performed after integration testing.

Focus on End-to-End Business Processes:
It involves testing end-to-end business scenarios to ensure the system behaves as expected in real-world use cases.
This includes validating functionality, user interfaces, and overall performance.

Testing Aspects:
System testing covers various aspects such as functionality, reporting, data validation, performance, and security. By simulating real-world usage, system testing helps identify issues that could impact user experience.

Acceptance Testing

Acceptance testing confirms that the software meets business requirements and user needs.
It is typically the final phase of testing before the software is released to production.

Sub-Types:

User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Conducted by end-users to verify that the software meets their expectations.
Business Acceptance Testing (BAT): Ensures that the software fulfills business requirements.
Regulatory Acceptance Testing: Validates compliance with legal and regulatory standards.

Acceptance testing provides confidence that the software is ready for deployment and use by end users.

Let's move forward to understand how these non-functional testing strategies contribute to building robust and resilient software applications.

Functional testing is the backbone of software quality assurance. It ensures that every feature of your application works as intended.

Let's explore the key types of functional testing and why they are crucial for your software's success.

Unit Testing

Unit testing involves testing individual components or units of code, usually at the function or method level. This type of testing is typically performed by developers as they write code.

Integration Testing

Integration testing verifies that different modules or services within an application work together correctly

System Testing

Acceptance Testing

Acceptance testing confirms that the software meets business requirements and user needs.
It is typically the final phase of testing before the software is released to production.

Sub-Types:

User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Conducted by end-users to verify that the software meets their expectations.
Business Acceptance Testing (BAT): Ensures that the software fulfills business requirements.
Regulatory Acceptance Testing: Validates compliance with legal and regulatory standards.

Acceptance testing provides confidence that the software is ready for deployment and use by end users.

Let's move forward to understand how these non-functional testing strategies contribute to building robust and resilient software applications.

Functional testing is the backbone of software quality assurance. It ensures that every feature of your application works as intended.

Let's explore the key types of functional testing and why they are crucial for your software's success.

Unit Testing

Unit testing involves testing individual components or units of code, usually at the function or method level. This type of testing is typically performed by developers as they write code.

Integration Testing

Integration testing verifies that different modules or services within an application work together correctly

System Testing

Acceptance Testing

Acceptance testing confirms that the software meets business requirements and user needs.
It is typically the final phase of testing before the software is released to production.

Sub-Types:

User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Conducted by end-users to verify that the software meets their expectations.
Business Acceptance Testing (BAT): Ensures that the software fulfills business requirements.
Regulatory Acceptance Testing: Validates compliance with legal and regulatory standards.

Acceptance testing provides confidence that the software is ready for deployment and use by end users.

Let's move forward to understand how these non-functional testing strategies contribute to building robust and resilient software applications.

Non-Functional Testing Types

Functional Testing

Functional testing validates that the software behaves according to requirements, ensuring each feature works as intended. It checks inputs, outputs, and user interactions to confirm the system delivers the expected results.

While functional testing ensures that your software does what it's supposed to do, non-functional testing addresses aspects like performance, security, usability, and compatibility.
These tests are crucial for creating a robust, efficient, and user-friendly application.

Level	SDLC Stage	Primary owner	Where it runs	Automatable?	Typical tools
Unit	Build	Developer	CI runner	High	JUnit, pytest, Jest
Integration	Build → Pre-merge	Dev/QA	CI + ephemeral env	High	REST Assured, Pact, Testcontainers
System	Pre-release	QA	Dedicated env	Medium/High	Playwright, Cypress
Acceptance (UAT)	Pre-prod	Business/QA	Staging	Medium	Manual + scripted

Smoke Testing

Smoke testing is a preliminary testing approach that verifies the basic functionality of an application.
This type of testing ensures that the major features of the application are working as expected after a new build or deployment.
It's a quick, high-level test to identify any severe issues that would prevent further testing.

Ad-hoc Testing

Ad-hoc testing is an informal and unstructured testing method where the tester aims to discover defects through random checking.
This type of testing doesn't follow any specific plan and relies on the tester's intuition and experience.
An example might be exploring new features in a social media app without predefined test cases.

Back-end Testing

Back-end testing focuses on validating the server-side components of an application. This includes testing databases, server logic, and APIs to ensure data integrity and server functionality.
For instance, testing the server-side functionalities of an online booking system ensures that all back-end operations perform correctly.

Maintenance & Regression Testing

Maintenance and regression testing involves verifying that software continues to perform correctly after changes or updates.
This testing type ensures that new code changes do not introduce new bugs or affect existing functionality.
An example might be testing CRM system functionalities after software updates to ensure everything works as expected.

Exploratory testing

Exploratory testing is a unique approach in software testing that relies on the tester's creativity, experience, and intuition to uncover issues that automated or scripted tests might miss.

It's a powerful method for identifying non-obvious errors and understanding the system's behavior under various conditions.

Purpose:

The primary goal of exploratory testing is to discover defects and issues that are not easily caught by automated testing tools.

This approach allows testers to explore the application freely, using their knowledge and experience to test the application in ways that might not have been anticipated during the development of scripted tests.

API Testing

API testing verifies that API connections work correctly, ensuring that APIs return the expected results and handle errors gracefully. This type of testing is essential for applications that rely on APIs for data exchange.

For instance, testing API integrations in a travel booking service ensures that all API endpoints function correctly.

Qodex is an AI-driven tool that excels in automating various testing processes, particularly API and UI testing. It offers several key features relevant to the types of testing discussed:

API Testing: Qodex automates API testing, ensuring that API connections are functional, scalable, and secure. It maintains exhaustive functional test cases and covers penetration, security, compliance, and load testing.

UI Testing: Qodex also provides robust UI testing capabilities, maintaining comprehensive functional test cases that ensure the user interface works correctly across different browsers and devices.
Continuous Test Coverage: With its advanced AI agent, Qodex offers continuous test coverage, ensuring that all critical components of an application are consistently tested throughout the development lifecycle.

By integrating Qodex into your testing strategy, you can leverage its AI-powered capabilities to enhance test automation, reduce testing time, and improve overall software quality. Visit Qodex to know more.

Non-Functional Testing

Non-functional testing evaluates how well the system performs beyond core functionality, focusing on quality attributes like speed, security, and usability. It ensures the application is efficient, reliable, and user-friendly under real-world conditions.

Performance Testing

Performance testing evaluates how well your application performs under various conditions.
It's about understanding speed, scalability, and stability.

Key Aspects:

Load Testing: Measures system performance under expected user loads. It helps identify bottlenecks and ensures the application can handle peak traffic.
Stress Testing: Determines the system's breaking point by pushing it beyond normal operational capacity.
Spike Testing: Evaluates how the system reacts to sudden increases in load.
Endurance Testing: Checks for memory leaks and performance degradation over extended periods.
Scalability Testing: Assesses the application's ability to scale up or down according to demand.

Example: Ensuring an e-commerce platform performs efficiently during Black Friday sales without crashing or slowing down.

Functional Testing

Level	SDLC Stage	Primary owner	Where it runs	Automatable?	Typical tools
Unit	Build	Developer	CI runner	High	JUnit, pytest, Jest
Integration	Build → Pre-merge	Dev/QA	CI + ephemeral env	High	REST Assured, Pact, Testcontainers
System	Pre-release	QA	Dedicated env	Medium/High	Playwright, Cypress
Acceptance (UAT)	Pre-prod	Business/QA	Staging	Medium	Manual + scripted

Smoke Testing

Ad-hoc Testing

Back-end Testing

Maintenance & Regression Testing

Exploratory testing

Exploratory testing is a unique approach in software testing that relies on the tester's creativity, experience, and intuition to uncover issues that automated or scripted tests might miss.

It's a powerful method for identifying non-obvious errors and understanding the system's behavior under various conditions.

Purpose:

The primary goal of exploratory testing is to discover defects and issues that are not easily caught by automated testing tools.

API Testing

For instance, testing API integrations in a travel booking service ensures that all API endpoints function correctly.

Qodex is an AI-driven tool that excels in automating various testing processes, particularly API and UI testing. It offers several key features relevant to the types of testing discussed:

API Testing: Qodex automates API testing, ensuring that API connections are functional, scalable, and secure. It maintains exhaustive functional test cases and covers penetration, security, compliance, and load testing.

UI Testing: Qodex also provides robust UI testing capabilities, maintaining comprehensive functional test cases that ensure the user interface works correctly across different browsers and devices.
Continuous Test Coverage: With its advanced AI agent, Qodex offers continuous test coverage, ensuring that all critical components of an application are consistently tested throughout the development lifecycle.

Non-Functional Testing

Performance Testing

Performance testing evaluates how well your application performs under various conditions.
It's about understanding speed, scalability, and stability.

Key Aspects:

Load Testing: Measures system performance under expected user loads. It helps identify bottlenecks and ensures the application can handle peak traffic.
Stress Testing: Determines the system's breaking point by pushing it beyond normal operational capacity.
Spike Testing: Evaluates how the system reacts to sudden increases in load.
Endurance Testing: Checks for memory leaks and performance degradation over extended periods.
Scalability Testing: Assesses the application's ability to scale up or down according to demand.

Example: Ensuring an e-commerce platform performs efficiently during Black Friday sales without crashing or slowing down.

Functional Testing

Level	SDLC Stage	Primary owner	Where it runs	Automatable?	Typical tools
Unit	Build	Developer	CI runner	High	JUnit, pytest, Jest
Integration	Build → Pre-merge	Dev/QA	CI + ephemeral env	High	REST Assured, Pact, Testcontainers
System	Pre-release	QA	Dedicated env	Medium/High	Playwright, Cypress
Acceptance (UAT)	Pre-prod	Business/QA	Staging	Medium	Manual + scripted

Smoke Testing

Ad-hoc Testing

Back-end Testing

Maintenance & Regression Testing

Exploratory testing

Exploratory testing is a unique approach in software testing that relies on the tester's creativity, experience, and intuition to uncover issues that automated or scripted tests might miss.

It's a powerful method for identifying non-obvious errors and understanding the system's behavior under various conditions.

Purpose:

The primary goal of exploratory testing is to discover defects and issues that are not easily caught by automated testing tools.

API Testing

For instance, testing API integrations in a travel booking service ensures that all API endpoints function correctly.

Qodex is an AI-driven tool that excels in automating various testing processes, particularly API and UI testing. It offers several key features relevant to the types of testing discussed:

API Testing: Qodex automates API testing, ensuring that API connections are functional, scalable, and secure. It maintains exhaustive functional test cases and covers penetration, security, compliance, and load testing.

UI Testing: Qodex also provides robust UI testing capabilities, maintaining comprehensive functional test cases that ensure the user interface works correctly across different browsers and devices.
Continuous Test Coverage: With its advanced AI agent, Qodex offers continuous test coverage, ensuring that all critical components of an application are consistently tested throughout the development lifecycle.

Non-Functional Testing

Performance Testing

Performance testing evaluates how well your application performs under various conditions.
It's about understanding speed, scalability, and stability.

Key Aspects:

Load Testing: Measures system performance under expected user loads. It helps identify bottlenecks and ensures the application can handle peak traffic.
Stress Testing: Determines the system's breaking point by pushing it beyond normal operational capacity.
Spike Testing: Evaluates how the system reacts to sudden increases in load.
Endurance Testing: Checks for memory leaks and performance degradation over extended periods.
Scalability Testing: Assesses the application's ability to scale up or down according to demand.

Example: Ensuring an e-commerce platform performs efficiently during Black Friday sales without crashing or slowing down.

Other Types of Software Testing

Backward Compatibility Testing

Backward compatibility testing ensures that new versions of software remain compatible with older versions or environments.
This is crucial for applications that need to handle legacy data or run in older environments.
An example would be ensuring that a new version of productivity software can handle files created in previous versions.

Security Testing

Identifies vulnerabilities within your system to prevent data breaches and unauthorized access.

Sub-tests:

Penetration Testing: Simulates attacks to find security weaknesses.
Vulnerability Scanning: Uses automated tools to detect known vulnerabilities.
Fuzz Testing: Inputs large amounts of random data to crash the system and identify weaknesses.
Risk Assessments: Evaluates potential threats and their impact on the system.

Example: Testing an online banking application to ensure secure transactions and protect user data.

Types of Security Testing

Type	What it finds	When to run
SAST	In-code flaws, unsafe libs	On every PR
DAST	Runtime vulns (XSS, SQLi)	On preview/prod URLs
IAST	Issues during live tests	During UI/API suites
Pentest	Real-world exploit paths	Quarterly or pre-major release

Usability Testing

Evaluation: Usability testing ensures the application is user-friendly and intuitive.
Observation: Involves real users performing tasks while observers note any issues they encounter.

Example: Assessing the ease of use of a mobile shopping app to ensure a seamless customer experience.

Compatibility Testing

Ensures your application functions correctly across various devices, operating systems, and browsers.

Example: Testing a video streaming service on different devices and browsers to ensure consistent performance.

Non-functional testing complements functional testing by addressing the broader aspects of your application. By incorporating both, you ensure a well-rounded, high-quality product.

Mobile App Testing

Mobile app testing ensures that mobile applications work seamlessly across various devices and operating systems.
This includes functionality, performance, and usability testing on different mobile devices.
For example, testing the functionalities of a fitness tracking app across multiple devices ensures a consistent user experience.

Backward Compatibility Testing

Security Testing

Identifies vulnerabilities within your system to prevent data breaches and unauthorized access.

Sub-tests:

Penetration Testing: Simulates attacks to find security weaknesses.
Vulnerability Scanning: Uses automated tools to detect known vulnerabilities.
Fuzz Testing: Inputs large amounts of random data to crash the system and identify weaknesses.
Risk Assessments: Evaluates potential threats and their impact on the system.

Example: Testing an online banking application to ensure secure transactions and protect user data.

Types of Security Testing

Type	What it finds	When to run
SAST	In-code flaws, unsafe libs	On every PR
DAST	Runtime vulns (XSS, SQLi)	On preview/prod URLs
IAST	Issues during live tests	During UI/API suites
Pentest	Real-world exploit paths	Quarterly or pre-major release

Usability Testing

Evaluation: Usability testing ensures the application is user-friendly and intuitive.
Observation: Involves real users performing tasks while observers note any issues they encounter.

Example: Assessing the ease of use of a mobile shopping app to ensure a seamless customer experience.

Compatibility Testing

Ensures your application functions correctly across various devices, operating systems, and browsers.

Example: Testing a video streaming service on different devices and browsers to ensure consistent performance.

Non-functional testing complements functional testing by addressing the broader aspects of your application. By incorporating both, you ensure a well-rounded, high-quality product.

Mobile App Testing

Backward Compatibility Testing

Security Testing

Identifies vulnerabilities within your system to prevent data breaches and unauthorized access.

Sub-tests:

Penetration Testing: Simulates attacks to find security weaknesses.
Vulnerability Scanning: Uses automated tools to detect known vulnerabilities.
Fuzz Testing: Inputs large amounts of random data to crash the system and identify weaknesses.
Risk Assessments: Evaluates potential threats and their impact on the system.

Example: Testing an online banking application to ensure secure transactions and protect user data.

Types of Security Testing

Type	What it finds	When to run
SAST	In-code flaws, unsafe libs	On every PR
DAST	Runtime vulns (XSS, SQLi)	On preview/prod URLs
IAST	Issues during live tests	During UI/API suites
Pentest	Real-world exploit paths	Quarterly or pre-major release

Usability Testing

Evaluation: Usability testing ensures the application is user-friendly and intuitive.
Observation: Involves real users performing tasks while observers note any issues they encounter.

Example: Assessing the ease of use of a mobile shopping app to ensure a seamless customer experience.

Compatibility Testing

Ensures your application functions correctly across various devices, operating systems, and browsers.

Example: Testing a video streaming service on different devices and browsers to ensure consistent performance.

Non-functional testing complements functional testing by addressing the broader aspects of your application. By incorporating both, you ensure a well-rounded, high-quality product.

Mobile App Testing

Automated Testing

Automated testing is a game-changer in the software development lifecycle, offering numerous advantages that manual testing simply can't match.

It involves the use of specialized tools and frameworks to execute test cases, compare actual outcomes with expected results, and report findings without human intervention.

Here’s an in-depth look at automated testing and its significance:

Purpose of Automated Testing

Automated testing aims to streamline the testing process by using tools to automate repetitive tasks, thereby enhancing efficiency and accuracy.

It is particularly beneficial in scenarios requiring frequent testing of the same areas of an application, such as regression testing, where manual testing would be time-consuming and prone to errors.

Key Aspects of Automated Testing

Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD)

Automated testing is integral to CI/CD pipelines. By running tests automatically whenever code changes are pushed, it ensures that new code integrations do not break existing functionality.

This continuous feedback loop helps developers identify and fix issues promptly, maintaining code quality throughout the development cycle.

Scalability of QA Processes

Automated testing scales effortlessly with the addition of new features or changes in the application.

Automated test scripts can be executed across multiple environments, browsers, and devices, ensuring comprehensive coverage without the need for additional manual effort.

Example of an Automated Testing Tool

There are several tools available for automated testing, each offering unique features and capabilities.

Qodex: An AI-driven tool that excels in automating both API and UI testing.

Qodex offers continuous test coverage, automated test maintenance, and seamless integration with CI/CD pipelines, making it an indispensable tool for modern software development.

Why Qodex Stands Out

Qodex leverages AI to automate the testing process, ensuring high coverage and accuracy. Its ability to generate and maintain test cases based on real-time analysis of your application’s codebase and documentation sets it apart.

By integrating Qodex into your testing strategy, you can significantly reduce the time and cost associated with manual testing, while improving the reliability and scalability of your QA processes.

Visit Qodex for more information and to see how it can revolutionize your testing strategy.

Automated testing is a game-changer in the software development lifecycle, offering numerous advantages that manual testing simply can't match.

It involves the use of specialized tools and frameworks to execute test cases, compare actual outcomes with expected results, and report findings without human intervention.

Here’s an in-depth look at automated testing and its significance:

Purpose of Automated Testing

Automated testing aims to streamline the testing process by using tools to automate repetitive tasks, thereby enhancing efficiency and accuracy.

Key Aspects of Automated Testing

Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD)

Automated testing is integral to CI/CD pipelines. By running tests automatically whenever code changes are pushed, it ensures that new code integrations do not break existing functionality.

This continuous feedback loop helps developers identify and fix issues promptly, maintaining code quality throughout the development cycle.

Scalability of QA Processes

Automated testing scales effortlessly with the addition of new features or changes in the application.

Automated test scripts can be executed across multiple environments, browsers, and devices, ensuring comprehensive coverage without the need for additional manual effort.

Example of an Automated Testing Tool

There are several tools available for automated testing, each offering unique features and capabilities.

Qodex: An AI-driven tool that excels in automating both API and UI testing.

Qodex offers continuous test coverage, automated test maintenance, and seamless integration with CI/CD pipelines, making it an indispensable tool for modern software development.

Why Qodex Stands Out

By integrating Qodex into your testing strategy, you can significantly reduce the time and cost associated with manual testing, while improving the reliability and scalability of your QA processes.

Visit Qodex for more information and to see how it can revolutionize your testing strategy.

Automated testing is a game-changer in the software development lifecycle, offering numerous advantages that manual testing simply can't match.

It involves the use of specialized tools and frameworks to execute test cases, compare actual outcomes with expected results, and report findings without human intervention.

Here’s an in-depth look at automated testing and its significance:

Purpose of Automated Testing

Automated testing aims to streamline the testing process by using tools to automate repetitive tasks, thereby enhancing efficiency and accuracy.

Key Aspects of Automated Testing

Continuous Integration and Delivery (CI/CD)

Automated testing is integral to CI/CD pipelines. By running tests automatically whenever code changes are pushed, it ensures that new code integrations do not break existing functionality.

This continuous feedback loop helps developers identify and fix issues promptly, maintaining code quality throughout the development cycle.

Scalability of QA Processes

Automated testing scales effortlessly with the addition of new features or changes in the application.

Automated test scripts can be executed across multiple environments, browsers, and devices, ensuring comprehensive coverage without the need for additional manual effort.

Example of an Automated Testing Tool

There are several tools available for automated testing, each offering unique features and capabilities.

Qodex: An AI-driven tool that excels in automating both API and UI testing.

Qodex offers continuous test coverage, automated test maintenance, and seamless integration with CI/CD pipelines, making it an indispensable tool for modern software development.

Why Qodex Stands Out

By integrating Qodex into your testing strategy, you can significantly reduce the time and cost associated with manual testing, while improving the reliability and scalability of your QA processes.

Visit Qodex for more information and to see how it can revolutionize your testing strategy.

Exploratory Testing

White-Box vs Black-Box vs Gray-Box Testing

White-box (structural) testing verifies internal paths, branches, and logic. It’s ideal for catching dead code, boundary errors, and data-flow issues early in CI. Black-box (behavioral) testing ignores internals and validates features against requirements and user flows. Gray-box blends both approaches—testers get partial knowledge (e.g., API contracts or schema) to design stronger scenarios with realistic constraints.

Use white-box for complex algorithms, security-critical modules, and coverage goals.

Use black-box for acceptance, regression, and cross-browser flows.
Use gray-box when you know interfaces/contracts but not full code.

Shift-Left & Shift-Right Testing

Shift-left moves quality earlier—static analysis, unit tests, and contract tests run on each commit to prevent defects from entering integration. Shift-right validates resilience in real usage with synthetic monitoring, canary releases, feature flags, and chaos experiments. Together, they shorten feedback loops and reduce the cost of fixes while hardening real-world reliability.

Pre-merge checks: unit, API contract, smoke UI.

Post-deploy checks: SLO monitors, error budgets, synthetic journeys, chaos kill-switch.

I/CD: One File to Run Unit, Contract, UI & Security Checks

name: quality-gates
on: [pull_request]
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with: { node-version: '20' }

      # Unit tests
      - run: npm ci && npm run test:unit -- --ci --reporter=junit

      # API contract tests (e.g., Pact)
      - run: npm run test:contract && npm run pact:publish

      # UI smoke (Playwright headless)
      - run: npx playwright install --with-deps && npm run test:ui:smoke

      # SAST (example: eslint + dep check)
      - run: npm run lint && npx audit-ci --moderate

  zap-dast:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: test
    steps:
      - uses: zaproxy/action-baseline@v0.10.0
        with:
          target: ${{ secrets.PREVIEW_URL }}
          cmd_options: '-a -m 60'

Accessibility Testing (WCAG 2.2)

Accessibility testing ensures inclusive experiences for users with disabilities and often aligns with legal/compliance needs. Validate keyboard navigation, contrast, semantic landmarks, and screen-reader flows. Automate quick checks (axe, Playwright + a11y assertions), then add manual reviews for complex widgets.

Contract Testing for APIs & Microservices

Contract testing verifies that a provider service honors the request/response shapes consumers expect—without standing up full environments. With consumer-driven contracts, each consuming app publishes expectations; the provider validates them in CI. This slashes flaky E2E dependencies and speeds releases across microservices.

Define request/response contracts (JSON).

Mock providers in consumer tests.
Publish contracts to a broker.
Verify contracts in provider CI before merge.

Test Data & Environments

Stable tests need stable data. Use synthetic datasets for edge cases and masked production samples for realism. Spin up ephemeral environments per PR with seeded data to reproduce bugs quickly and keep regression runs deterministic. Track data versions alongside test versions.

Checkout: Test environments in Software Testing

SAST vs DAST vs IAST + Pentest Scenarios

Security testing should combine SAST (analyzes code and dependencies pre-build), DAST (probes running app for exploitable issues), and IAST (in-app sensors during runtime tests). Round this out with targeted penetration testing exercises that simulate real-world attacks (e.g., phishing, stolen-device, rogue Wi-Fi) to validate controls, logging, and response playbooks.

Scenario pack: Stolen-laptop, credential stuffing, malicious USB, tailgating/social engineering.

Gates: Fail build on high-severity SAST, block deploy on confirmed DAST vulns, create JIRA tickets automatically.

Cross-Device & Browser Matrix

Define a device-browser matrix that reflects your traffic. Cover at least one evergreen browser (Chromium/WebKit/Gecko), 2–3 viewport breakpoints, and your top mobile OS versions. Automate smoke flows across the matrix; reserve manual deep dives for high-revenue paths.

Tier	Browsers/OS	Viewports	What to run
Core	Chrome, Safari, Firefox (latest) / iOS & Android N-1	1440, 1024, 390	Smoke + checkout/profile flows
Extended	Edge, older Safari/Android	1280, 768	Sanity + visual diffs

Integration Strategies (Top-Down, Bottom-Up, Sandwich, Big-Bang)

Choose an integration strategy that fits your architecture. Top-down validates high-level modules first using stubs; bottom-up starts with lower-level modules using drivers; sandwich mixes both; big-bang connects everything at once (fast, but hardest to debug). For microservices, incremental top-down or bottom-up usually shortens MTTR by localizing faults early.

Strategy	When to use	Trade-offs
Top-down	Critical UX/business flows first	Needs stubs; may miss low-level defects early
Bottom-up	Data/API heavy backends	Needs drivers; UX uncovered late
Sandwich	Large distributed systems	Higher setup, great defect localization
Big-bang	Small/simple apps	Debugging pain; brittle tests

Release Readiness Checklist (Definition of Done for Testing)

Before shipping, confirm: critical paths pass, high-severity security findings closed, performance baselines met, accessibility issues triaged, and rollback plan defined. Lock the version, tag evidence (reports/artifacts), and freeze test data snapshots so you can reproduce results.

✅ Unit ≥ 80% critical coverage;
✅ Contract tests green;
✅ UAT sign-off;
✅ DAST clean;
✅ P95 response time ≤ target.

White-Box vs Black-Box vs Gray-Box Testing

Use white-box for complex algorithms, security-critical modules, and coverage goals.

Use black-box for acceptance, regression, and cross-browser flows.
Use gray-box when you know interfaces/contracts but not full code.

Shift-Left & Shift-Right Testing

Pre-merge checks: unit, API contract, smoke UI.

Post-deploy checks: SLO monitors, error budgets, synthetic journeys, chaos kill-switch.

I/CD: One File to Run Unit, Contract, UI & Security Checks

name: quality-gates
on: [pull_request]
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with: { node-version: '20' }

      # Unit tests
      - run: npm ci && npm run test:unit -- --ci --reporter=junit

      # API contract tests (e.g., Pact)
      - run: npm run test:contract && npm run pact:publish

      # UI smoke (Playwright headless)
      - run: npx playwright install --with-deps && npm run test:ui:smoke

      # SAST (example: eslint + dep check)
      - run: npm run lint && npx audit-ci --moderate

  zap-dast:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: test
    steps:
      - uses: zaproxy/action-baseline@v0.10.0
        with:
          target: ${{ secrets.PREVIEW_URL }}
          cmd_options: '-a -m 60'

Accessibility Testing (WCAG 2.2)

Contract Testing for APIs & Microservices

Define request/response contracts (JSON).

Mock providers in consumer tests.
Publish contracts to a broker.
Verify contracts in provider CI before merge.

Test Data & Environments

Checkout: Test environments in Software Testing

SAST vs DAST vs IAST + Pentest Scenarios

Scenario pack: Stolen-laptop, credential stuffing, malicious USB, tailgating/social engineering.

Gates: Fail build on high-severity SAST, block deploy on confirmed DAST vulns, create JIRA tickets automatically.

Cross-Device & Browser Matrix

Tier	Browsers/OS	Viewports	What to run
Core	Chrome, Safari, Firefox (latest) / iOS & Android N-1	1440, 1024, 390	Smoke + checkout/profile flows
Extended	Edge, older Safari/Android	1280, 768	Sanity + visual diffs

Integration Strategies (Top-Down, Bottom-Up, Sandwich, Big-Bang)

Strategy	When to use	Trade-offs
Top-down	Critical UX/business flows first	Needs stubs; may miss low-level defects early
Bottom-up	Data/API heavy backends	Needs drivers; UX uncovered late
Sandwich	Large distributed systems	Higher setup, great defect localization
Big-bang	Small/simple apps	Debugging pain; brittle tests

Release Readiness Checklist (Definition of Done for Testing)

✅ Unit ≥ 80% critical coverage;
✅ Contract tests green;
✅ UAT sign-off;
✅ DAST clean;
✅ P95 response time ≤ target.

White-Box vs Black-Box vs Gray-Box Testing

Use white-box for complex algorithms, security-critical modules, and coverage goals.

Use black-box for acceptance, regression, and cross-browser flows.
Use gray-box when you know interfaces/contracts but not full code.

Shift-Left & Shift-Right Testing

Pre-merge checks: unit, API contract, smoke UI.

Post-deploy checks: SLO monitors, error budgets, synthetic journeys, chaos kill-switch.

I/CD: One File to Run Unit, Contract, UI & Security Checks

name: quality-gates
on: [pull_request]
jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with: { node-version: '20' }

      # Unit tests
      - run: npm ci && npm run test:unit -- --ci --reporter=junit

      # API contract tests (e.g., Pact)
      - run: npm run test:contract && npm run pact:publish

      # UI smoke (Playwright headless)
      - run: npx playwright install --with-deps && npm run test:ui:smoke

      # SAST (example: eslint + dep check)
      - run: npm run lint && npx audit-ci --moderate

  zap-dast:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: test
    steps:
      - uses: zaproxy/action-baseline@v0.10.0
        with:
          target: ${{ secrets.PREVIEW_URL }}
          cmd_options: '-a -m 60'

Accessibility Testing (WCAG 2.2)

Contract Testing for APIs & Microservices

Define request/response contracts (JSON).

Mock providers in consumer tests.
Publish contracts to a broker.
Verify contracts in provider CI before merge.

Test Data & Environments

Checkout: Test environments in Software Testing

SAST vs DAST vs IAST + Pentest Scenarios

Scenario pack: Stolen-laptop, credential stuffing, malicious USB, tailgating/social engineering.

Gates: Fail build on high-severity SAST, block deploy on confirmed DAST vulns, create JIRA tickets automatically.

Cross-Device & Browser Matrix

Tier	Browsers/OS	Viewports	What to run
Core	Chrome, Safari, Firefox (latest) / iOS & Android N-1	1440, 1024, 390	Smoke + checkout/profile flows
Extended	Edge, older Safari/Android	1280, 768	Sanity + visual diffs

Integration Strategies (Top-Down, Bottom-Up, Sandwich, Big-Bang)

Strategy	When to use	Trade-offs
Top-down	Critical UX/business flows first	Needs stubs; may miss low-level defects early
Bottom-up	Data/API heavy backends	Needs drivers; UX uncovered late
Sandwich	Large distributed systems	Higher setup, great defect localization
Big-bang	Small/simple apps	Debugging pain; brittle tests

Release Readiness Checklist (Definition of Done for Testing)

✅ Unit ≥ 80% critical coverage;
✅ Contract tests green;
✅ UAT sign-off;
✅ DAST clean;
✅ P95 response time ≤ target.

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Conclusion

Software testing is a cornerstone of delivering high-quality, reliable applications.

By implementing a variety of testing types—functional, non-functional, automated, and exploratory—you ensure thorough validation of every aspect of your software.

This comprehensive approach helps identify and fix defects early, ensuring your software meets the highest standards of performance, security, and user satisfaction.

Embrace these diverse testing strategies to keep up with evolving user needs and technological advancements.

For advanced testing solutions and to streamline your QA processes, visit Qodex.ai.

Conclusion

Software testing is a cornerstone of delivering high-quality, reliable applications.

By implementing a variety of testing types—functional, non-functional, automated, and exploratory—you ensure thorough validation of every aspect of your software.

This comprehensive approach helps identify and fix defects early, ensuring your software meets the highest standards of performance, security, and user satisfaction.

Embrace these diverse testing strategies to keep up with evolving user needs and technological advancements.

For advanced testing solutions and to streamline your QA processes, visit Qodex.ai.

Conclusion

Software testing is a cornerstone of delivering high-quality, reliable applications.

By implementing a variety of testing types—functional, non-functional, automated, and exploratory—you ensure thorough validation of every aspect of your software.

This comprehensive approach helps identify and fix defects early, ensuring your software meets the highest standards of performance, security, and user satisfaction.

Embrace these diverse testing strategies to keep up with evolving user needs and technological advancements.

For advanced testing solutions and to streamline your QA processes, visit Qodex.ai.

FAQs

What are the main types of software testing in engineering?×

Software testing in engineering includes a wide range of techniques such as unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and acceptance testing. Each serves a distinct purpose in verifying software quality. Unit testing checks individual components, integration testing ensures modules interact correctly, and system testing evaluates the entire application’s performance. Finally, acceptance testing validates that the software meets user expectations and business requirements before deployment.

Why is software testing essential in the engineering lifecycle?+

What is the difference between manual testing and automated testing?+

How do functional and non-functional testing differ?+

Which software testing types are most critical for DevOps environments?+

Shreya Srivastava

Jan 2, 2025

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