It is a testing method wherein a set of software tests are re-executed. When new changes have been introduced in the code, there will be scenarios where the existing code may get affected and hence may lead to malfunctions or defects in the software. If potential risks need to be minimized, then regression testing is implemented to make sure that the previously executed code is functioning as per the required expectations, despite changes or modifications being made to the code. In this article, you will get to know the three techniques of regression testing.
What is regression testing?
It is a testing method that re-runs functional and non-functional tests to make sure that the application works as intended after any code updates, changes, improvements, revisions or optimizations. It plays a crucial part in the software development process as unexpected faults in an application are detected that may arise due to extending of the existing codebase, enhancements or tweaks.
Regression testing involves:
· Automated test cases written and built by testers
Release-specific tests are filtered by business analysts and testers so that it can be re-run on affected areas from new releases.
Following are the three techniques of regression testing:
Retest everything: Regression testing is implemented across each test suite when multiple changes or updates are made to a software application's root or primary code. Bugs are identified and resolved using this technique. However this technique is considered to be resource-intensive and time-consuming.
The contexts are taken into consideration and then based on it this technique is being implemented. For example, complete regression becomes valuable when there's an update for fixing a bug in the operating system or when an application is being moved to a new platform.
Regression test selection: The specific parts can be selected on which one can perform regression testing. Only the specific parts are chosen based on the magnitude of the impact the changes may have on the application. With such a technique, limited test cases are applied to pertinent areas, thereby reducing the time, efforts and resources required for regression testing.
This technique is well-suited for more large-scale and complex applications wherein the number of test scripts to be executed are huge.
Test case prioritization: Those test cases are selected that are of top priority and thus are given the first priority in the testing process. The test cases are chosen based on certain factors such as business impact of certain features, feature failure rate and commonly used functionalities. Customer-centric features and newly-incorporated functionalities are regarded as the highest priority test cases.
The prioritization of these test cases is done on several criteria as follows:
Customer-centric features
Security-related features
Test cases to check the functionality of new features
Failure rate
Gradually used functionalities
Business impact
The right context to perform regression testing;
Following are the scenarios wherein regression testing needs to be implemented:
When patch fixes are added
The existing feature is added up with a new feature
Defects are solved by fixing up the codebase
Optimizing source code to improve performance
When a software's new version has been released
Defects are solved by fixing up the codebase
When changes in configuration have been made
When the integration of a new-third party system is done with the current system
User interface changes have been done
Optimizing source code to improve performance.
All of the above scenarios involve an adjustment or restructuring of the current code, which may in turn result in unexpected behaviors, hence the necessity to implement regression testing comes into perspective.
Conclusion: If you are looking forward to implementing regression testing for your specific project, then do get connected with a top-notch software testing services company that will provide you with an expert software testing consultation and professional support for implementing the best testing solutions for your specific project.
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