Nowadays, QA testing is part of the production cycle of a software product. Even more, depending on the system used by the development company, testers can work in parallel with developers.
After all, it makes sense to want all the bugs and errors identified and solved as soon as possible. And preferably, before the product is launched to the public.
Still, whether you are a QA engineer or someone looking to find the right development and testing team, it helps to know a bit about the various testing methods.
Today, we are going to discuss two of the most used such methods, and run a quick comparison to understand the main differences.
The Sanity and Regression Testing Methods
As the name suggests, Sanity Testing is used to check if a software product functions according to the specifications and parameters after new features have been added. Its job is to determine whether the product is stable and if there’s a need for additional testing.
Overall, Sanity Testing is a method used to test if the changes added to an already existing product work as expected. The method doesn’t do much in-depth testing and usually applies to an already stable product in order to see if further testing is needed.
On the other hand, Regression Testing is also used for software products that have suffered a modification (bug fixes, updates, changes in code, and so on), but it goes more in-depth and tests all the functionalities of a software product (not just the ones that were added/changed).
Both Sanity and Regression Testing can be done manually and with automated tools, but the latter work best for speed and accuracy. Also, given that it goes more in-depth, every QA engineer needs to know a couple of great regression test tools they can use as needed.
Which One Do I Need?
If you’re not a QA engineer (or hope to become one), you still need to know a bit about software testing and the variety of tools out there. After all, if you’re looking to hire a custom software development company, it helps to know how they test their products.
So, which method is best for what?
First of all, it may help to know that Sanity Testing is a part of Regression Testing. In order to save resources and time, QA engineers use quick methods that check if the basic functionalities of the product are met. These methods include Smoke Testing (for the initial build) and Sanity Testing (on a relatively stable build).
A build has to pass both these two quick and easy-to-implement methods before it can move on to Regression Testing, which is more thorough and resource-consuming. A build that undergoes Regression Testing (the last step in the testing cycle) is considered stable since most of the major bugs and errors were identified and fixed during the previous testing steps.
So, to answer the initial question, you’ll need both these methods and probably a few more to make sure a product is ready for market release.
How Much Will It Cost?
The reason QA engineers use several different testing methods is to optimize resource usage and reduce the cost per launch without compromising the end product’s quality. If, for instance, you would use only the Regression Testing method, you would have a lengthy, resource-consuming system that keeps production in place and racks up costs.
On the other hand, if you only use Sanity Testing, you’ll miss glaring problems and risk releasing a buggy product that can drive its success into the ground really fast.
Therefore, while it helps to have your own information and knowledge, it’s also a good idea to respect the testing systems designed by professionals.
