Some Major Testing Techniques

Some major software testing techniques along with their core focus and differences.

• Black-box Testing

• Focus: Testing functionality without knowledge of internal code.
• Approach: Inputs are provided, and outputs are validated against expected results.
• Use cases: UI testing, functional testing, system testing.
• Example: Entering data in a form and checking the output, without knowing how the data is processed internally.

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• Exploratory Testing

• Focus: Simultaneous learning, test design, and execution.
• Approach: Testers explore the application freely to discover bugs.
• Use cases: Early-stage testing, usability testing, uncovering hidden issues.
• Characteristics: Often unscripted but can be structured with charters.
• Example: A tester interacts with a new feature without a predefined test case, observing how it behaves.

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• Ad-hoc Testing

• Focus: Unstructured and informal testing.
• Approach: No documentation, no planning—just “on-the-fly” testing.
• Use cases: Quick checks, last-minute testing, exploratory bug finding.
• Characteristics: Heavily relies on tester’s intuition and experience.
• Example: Clicking randomly on a webpage to see if anything breaks.

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• Boundary Value Analysis (BVA)

• Focus: Testing edge values around input boundaries.
• Approach: Inputs are chosen at the edges of valid and invalid ranges.
• Use cases: When input ranges are defined (e.g., numeric fields).
• Example: If valid input is 1 to 100, test 0, 1, 2, 99, 100, 101.