Differences Between Sanity Testing and Smoke Testing
Non-Functional Testing: A Complete Handbook for Developers
Non-functional tests assess usability, performance, scalability, and security - all of which determine the success of an application.
Sanity testing and smoke testing are popular types of tests that are used to determine if a system is stable. Smoke testing is an initial test suite that is run against a new system or changes made to a system in order to determine the extent of the impact on the system. Sanity testing is typically done after the smoke test has been completed, and it is used to verify if the system still functions as intended or not. This article will explore the differences between sanity testing and smoke testing. We will also discuss when each type of test should be used.
Sanity testing is a methodology used in software development that determines if a new software version works well enough to allow broader testing. Typically, this type of test passes when the bug rate is low and does not decrease speed or functionality in any way.
Using this type of testing means a faster time to market, as the testing team finds the issues quickly, and the programmers can deal with them immediately. In addition, since sanity tests ensure that no functionality is lost during updates, end-users should experience no change in how they use a program.
Sanity testing is not meant to replace other types of software testing. However, it can be helpful when used in conjunction with other testing methods and ensuring that updates or patches do not cause any issues.
A sanity test is typically used in software development when releasing updates to ensure that major issues, such as crashes or loss of data, do not occur. Any bugs found are logged and listed for later fix by the development team. This way, any significant issues that arise can be dealt with before the software becomes available to the public.
Sanity testing is also valuable for determining how well a new update of an already existing program works compared to the older version. This allows developers to understand the benefits and drawbacks of the updates before they are released.
In addition, sanity testing is used in web application development. The test can be executed via manual testing or automated testing.
Smoke testing is a type of software quality assurance (QA) process used to discover simple software bugs or defects. This means that smoke tests are the first major automated battery of tests that QA performs on your application after it has been integrated and before it’s ready for wider distribution. The goal of this test suite is to provide quick feedback on the state of the software so that any major problems can be caught out early on.
Smoke tests are designed to mimic typical user activities, so they should be written with this in mind. For example, if your application is a web-based e-commerce store, a smoke test would probably consist of logging in and searching for a few different products.
Smoke tests should be simple and easy to use. It’s much better to have a small number of reliable smoke tests than a larger number that require more maintenance.
Smoke testing is generally used on large applications with a lot of moving parts, such as multi-module builds. They’re also helpful when you have a suite of unit or integration tests but can’t run them on your build server due to time constraints or other limitations. Smoke tests run more quickly than full regression testing and provide some degree of confidence that your build isn’t broken.
Smoke tests should be used as a starting point to guide and prioritize other test cases in the regression suite, which is why smoke tests need to cover basic functionality required by all users in order to provide fast feedback on whether the application is functional.
The advantages and benefits of performing smoke testing on your application include:
Sanity and smoke testing are both types of software testing performed during the software development life cycle before release. The purpose of these tests is to decide whether the software works as expected under normal conditions. Both sanity and smoke testing provide general information about how well a system performs, but they mainly differ in their goals and execution.
Smoke tests operate under the assumption that the software is broken and that it will not run. During this process, the software is tested under extreme conditions of input values to determine whether the system responds as expected. While smoke tests can be performed manually, they are often automated with scripting languages.
On the other hand, sanity testing operates on the assumption that the software is working properly and requires no extreme values or conditions. The purpose of the test is to show that the software works under normal conditions and commonly expected values.
To summarize, smoke tests are designed to determine whether a system has broken components, while sanity testing is performed with the assumption that everything is working correctly. Moreover, there are some other minor differences between these two software testing techniques as below:
Software testing is a necessary yet important step in the software development process. There are various types of testing, including sanity testing and smoke testing. Therefore, it can be confusing to know when and which type to use. Therefore, it is vital to have an overview of sanity testing and smoke testing and their differences to make an informed decision regarding software testing. And we expect this article has been a great help for you.
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