Software Testing Unit 2: Alpha Testing

Alpha Testing vs Beta Testing

• Alpha testing is a type of acceptance testing that identifies all possible issues/bugs before releasing the product to the public.

• It simulates real users using blackbox and whitebox techniques to carry out tasks that a typical user might perform.

• Alpha testing is carried out in a lab environment by internal employees of the organization.

• It is performed near the end of the development of the software, before beta testing.

• Beta testing is performed by "real users" of the software application in a "real environment", a form of external User Acceptance Testing.

• The beta version of the software is released to a limited number of end-users to obtain feedback on the product quality.

• Beta testing reduces product failure risks and provides increased quality of the product through customer validation.

• It is the final test before shipping a product to the customers, and direct feedback from customers is a major advantage.

Comparison of Alpha and Beta Testing

• Alpha testing is performed by internal employees, while beta testing is performed by clients or end-users who are not employees of the organization.
• Alpha testing is performed at the developer's site, while beta testing is performed at the client location or end-user of the product.
• Alpha testing involves both white box and black box techniques, while beta testing typically uses black box testing.
• Alpha testing requires a lab environment, while beta testing doesn't require any lab environment.
• Alpha testing has a long execution cycle, while beta testing only requires a few weeks of execution.
• Critical issues or fixes can be addressed by developers immediately in alpha testing, while most issues or feedback collected from beta testing will be implemented in future versions of the product.

User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

• User acceptance testing is a type of testing performed by the client to certify the system with respect to the requirements that were agreed upon.
• It happens in the final phase of testing before moving the software application to the market or production environment.

Difference between Testing Methodologies and Testing Strategies

• Testing methodologies are the methods or approaches to testing, including unit testing through system testing.
• Testing strategies are an overview of the key issues that occur in the testing process and are to be taken into consideration by the project manager, developers, and testers.

Software Testing Methods

• Unit testing focuses on very small functional units and is generally performed by developers.
• Integration testing provides a mechanism to test interaction, inter-operation, and communication between different modules of software.
• Functional testing checks the functionalities of a software system, i.e., output to the given input.
• Regression testing checks if bug fixing has happened at one place, so that complex functionalities should not cause any change in another core area.
• System testing tests all the integrated modules as a collective system, combining multiple features into end-to-end scenarios.
• Performance testing tests the performance of the application in critical situations.
• Acceptance testing is the final level of testing where the software product is examined from a user's perspective by testers.