ERROR – the most dreaded heart sinking, stomach churning, and dizzying word in the software personnel’s dictionary – especially when the app has been launched and is out in the market! It's no wonder that software testers go hammer and tongs after bugs and glitches to ensure their apps are error free.
Despite best efforts, there have been costly, publicly reported errors that have brought untold embarrassment. The fallout is enormous in terms of rectification time, rectification costs, app downtime, loss of face, loss of customers and in some cases even loss of business! The woes extend to customers and end users in terms of loss of data, privacy issues, and even safety and security being compromised. The stakes are extremely high. In fact one report places the cost of poor software quality at $ 2 trillion annually – just for US organizations. Extrapolate that for the world and the numbers are truly mind numbing!
Going back in time, to 1962 to be precise, there was the Mariner 1 Spacecraft that was on a fly by Venus data-collection mission, when it perilously deviated from its course and had to be destroyed less than 5 minutes after its launch. The cause – a missing hyphen in a line of the code that cost NASA a whopping $18 million!
The millennial will probably remember the hysteria connected with the Millennium Bug more widely known as Y2K, as the world inched its way to the 21st century! Millions of dollars were spent worldwide, converting the date format on computers and operating systems from DDMMYY to DDMMYYYY. This was necessary to avert the potential disaster of digital systems mistakenly reading the year 2001 as 1901 – a programming glitch that was not even thought of earlier!
Or here’s something that even Gen Z will remember – the two global disruptions within a week (besides others), that millions of users faced across the world due to the Instagram, Whatsapp and Facebook outage that lasted a few hours – supposedly caused by faulty configuration changes. In this fortnight itself, we’ve had Zomato and Swiggy reporting a brief nationwide outage seemingly caused by a snag in Amazon Web Services that these and many other online platforms depend on.
Some of the widely publicized errors were caused by things as simple as date glitches, missing punctuation marks, spelling errors, algorithm errors, using the wrong units system (imperial v/s metric system), incompatible codes, errors in converting from 64-bit to 16-bit data, etc. To add to the woes there are hacking issues, data leaks, spyware and other bogeys that give nightmares to software personnel.
Broadly speaking, the most common software errors relate to Functionality, Communication, Missing Commands, Syntax, Error-handling glitches, Calculations, and Control Flow. The list may be small but there’s a Pandora’s Box behind each of these. The world of software errors is indeed vast and daunting! More so when you think of the millions of people that get affected, the huge monetary impact and the flak that pours out on social media, seconds after the error occurs!
But wait a minute, isn’t this blog about ‘Error-free Testing’? Indeed it is. We are done with the trailer and will now shift gears and race ahead to the happy ending of this scary movie. So sit back and enjoy with your virtual popcorn as we showcase how to get to the era of error-free testing in the genre of Mobile Apps.
Here’s a snapshot of what’s required for experiencing error-free Mobile App Testing:
- Select an Appropriate Test Automation Framework
- Get Suitable Automated Test Management Tools
- Move to Automated Testing Where Possible
- Ensure Genuine Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)
- Adopt Agile and Devop Methodologies
- Get the Benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Language (ML)
- Adopt Cloud-based Development and Testing
- Sow the Seeds for Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
Let’s briefly understand each of these.
- Select an Appropriate Test Automation Framework
A Test Automation Framework is a set of pre-coded rules or guidelines that have been framed and stored, using corresponding tools for creating and designing test cases. It provides a structure for combining programs, compilers, features, tools, etc. to make software testing more efficient. For mobile app testing there are various automation frameworks like Appium, Selendroid, Google EarlGrey, Espresso, Cucumber, Robot Framework and Gauge to choose from.
- Get Suitable Automated Test Management Tools
An app test automation tool is software that helps testers define and automate their app testing tasks, which can then be run multiple times without much human intervention. It has predefined inputs and delivers predefined outputs. Some examples of mobile app testing tools are Appium, Robotium, Espresso, Xamarin UI Test, and XCUI Test amongst others.
- Move to Automated Testing Where Possible
There are still a few areas where manual testing scores better, as in the case of Exploratory, Usability and Ad-hoc Testing, or where there are small changes in User Interface (UI), or where the Application Under Testing (AUT) changes frequently. Also in cases where detailed human observation, intuition and insights are required, and in areas where visual aspects of UI like fonts, colors, sizes, contrasts, etc. are involved. In other cases it is advisable to automate tests so as to reap the benefits of speed, safety and accuracy.
- Ensure Genuine Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)
CI/CD are two important components of Continuous Testing which is the process by which software code testing is automated at every stage of the SDLC, permitting the commitment of new code modules as they get generated. This ensures early detection and rectification of errors.
- Adopt Agile and Devop Methodologies
The Agile model facilitates continuous iteration of development and testing in the software development process, and is therefore a much more suitable model for automation. DevOps is the combining of Development and Operations so as to integrate all the software development functions from development to operations within the same cycle.
- Get the Benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Language (ML)
AI-driven automated testing is a software testing technique in which AI and ML algorithms are used to effectively test a software product, by employing logical reasoning and problem-solving methods, to improve the overall testing process. ML is a field of computer science that uses statistical techniques to give computer systems the ability to ‘learn’ with data, without being explicitly programmed.
- Adopt Cloud-based Development and Testing
Cloud-based testing facilitates parallel testing of numerous devices and browsers which can prove very expensive and tedious if done in the physical realm. It also gives the freedom of testing from almost anywhere at your convenience.
- Sow the Seeds for Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
RPA is a software technology that makes it easy to build, deploy, and manage software robots that mimic human actions in interacting with digital systems and software. It has immense potential to bring speed and accuracy to the testing process by eliminating errors associated with human intervention.
To sum up: In order to experience speed, accuracy, safety and security in Mobile App Testing, it is imperative to adopt the latest technologies and methodologies, because despite best intentions and efforts, there will be unintentional errors arising from human fatigue and boredom. For Mobile App Testers who are looking for a one stop shop that ensures error-free testing, there are platforms like BOTm.
BOTm is an AI & ML driven testing BOT which ensures quick, error-free mobile app testing across spectrum. It consistently incorporates the latest in the software testing space and has advanced features like voice-based testing, so that you can relax. Get yourself a free trial at botmtesting.com and experience for yourself that the era of error-free testing is a reality! Try it out today.