Today the testing field attracts more and more people. These are people of different ages and professions and those who are ready to start an IT career from scratch. It doesn't matter whether it is somebody with experience or a student, both want to know what to choose: manual or automated testing?
This article provides a brief description of both directions for beginners in IT to help them find their way in the testing field.
Automated testing is an interesting and cost-effective activity, which is hard not to notice. A beginner in the testing field always finds it the most profitable alternative since it involves using special tools to run a set of product tests. In contrast, manual testing is performed by a person sitting in front of a computer, thoroughly performing all the stages of testing with a minimal number of tools.
Beginner testers, just like switchers, tend to be attracted to the concept of running code and then enjoying morning coffee while the work is performed without tester intervention. However, things are not that simple in practice, and on real projects, even experienced test automation engineers can often be confused by the product due to its nature and features. So sometimes a manual tester may have an advantage over the automation tester.
So, the conclusion can be drawn that automated testing means testing with the help of special testing tools that can cover large volumes and intensity of test cases. In the process of creating these test cases, once the test suite is automated, human intervention is no longer required. This is exactly the purpose of automation - to reduce the number of tests one needs to run manually.
How to understand that it's time to automate testing?
When a project is growing and has several subsystems, and manual test cases exceed several hundred, then automation will help increase the tester's efficiency, allowing them to avoid spending weeks on test cases. Not only a large project, but also a large team of programmers requires test automation so that bugs can be detected faster during the interaction of different code modules and then fixed quickly.
Automation of testing processes is relevant for the following criteria in the project:
However, it is worth noting that an autotest is not always a good option. For example, if the test scenarios are new and have not been tested manually, if the tests require constant changes, or if there is a need to run the test scenario only once.
Software automation has the advantage of being able to enter test data into the system, compare expected and actual results, and generate detailed test reports, which requires a specialist to know a programming language. However, this is exactly why automation requires a tester to considerably invest in their knowledge. Learning a programming language is one of such investments in yourself as a future automation tester. Still, it's important to understand that sometimes even experienced testers or developers learn new languages to work on new projects.
Now let's analyze the languages that are gaining popularity and are used both by developers and testers.
Python ranks first in our list as it is the most popular free and open-source programming language for automated testing. It is widely used to create web and desktop applications, game development, machine learning, data visualization, network servers and much more.
In comparison to other programming languages used in automated testing, learning Python is easy because of its readability. Also, Python is a more portable language and has several libraries that ease the developer's work as they help to perform actions without repeatedly writing new code for each task. In addition, Python has an active and supportive community for beginners.
Moreover, you may be surprised to know that an application like Spotify was originally created in Python. Apart from this application, Python has given us resources like Netflix and Dropbox.
Javascript is a great programming language for automated testing used mostly for front-end development. Based on the Stack Overflow Developer Survey (2023) report, 63.61% of all respondents say that Javascript is their favorite programming language for automated testing, web development, etc. Furthermore, there are various testing frameworks such as Zest, Jasmine and Nightwatch JS, that enhance numerous unit testing processes along with end-to-end testing.
With all the advantages of Javascript, teams involved in automated testing do not need to feel pressured. This is all because debugging time and other code failures are reduced and overall efficiency is promisingly increased due to the left-shift testing approach. This approach is extremely important in the test code development process since the test team will be working closely with the development team to implement accurate and efficient test automation without changing the actual source code.
Developers prefer to use JavaScript with Selenium for test scenarios related to automated browser testing. The most widely used JavaScript test automation frameworks are Jest, Mocha, Nightwatch JS, and Jasmine.
According to a StackOverflow survey, the C# programming language is preferred by more than 60 percent of users when it comes to meeting requirements for development and business automation. Developed by experienced Microsoft developers, C# has steadily grown in popularity due to its automated testing platforms. These include xUnit.Net, NUnit, and MSTest. With their help, many automation testers can perform unit and functional testing to ensure that consistency and scalability are strictly maintained during code execution.
Companies such as Accenture, Stack Overflow, and Intuit prefer to use C# because it is compatible with Selenium WebDriver (a framework that allows performing cross-border tests in a proven way). In addition, there is no room for confusion in creating test scenarios with C#, as it can handle all the constraints of business modules with high efficiency. Companies should combine this structured programming language with their automated testing processes and use trusted business applications (supported by C#) on platforms such as iOS, Windows, or Android.
Ruby is another programming language for automated testing that supports the MVC architecture, which focuses on simplicity and performance.
Similar to Python, the Ruby learning curve is easy to master and apply. Additionally, the language has a user-friendly syntax and a flexible object-oriented architecture. The best part is that it has excellent support from a growing community of Ruby users. It is becoming a favorite programming language among web application developers because it allows them to create useful applications without using a lot of code.
This programming language can potentially create a great working environment for Selenium Automation testers. Ruby uses several automation frameworks to help with cross-browser testing. Among the most popular frameworks used for testing Ruby programs are RSpec, Cucumber, Minitest, and Test::Unit.
It's hard to imagine a list of programming languages without this legend. Java remains a top priority for large organizations that plan to create more and more jobs in the field of automated testing. With the help of Java code owned by Oracle, more than 2 billion devices can synchronize many automation benefits based on the "write once, run anywhere" principle of this versatile language.
In addition, the JUnit framework can be well implemented in the test scripts of the Selenium web driver to allow browser applications to send and receive commands reliably. On top of all this, well-known companies like Netflix, Google, and Pinterest use Java professionally in data sources, plugins, and web applications, helping their teams to perfectly align with the product development stack they have brought to market.
In terms of driving power, this is a real treasure as UI checks and related elements verify performance accurately in a preferred error-free manner.
You can find out more about popular programming languages in our blog post.
The final product consists of a large number of functionalities and processes required for its operation, which is why the following items are most often automated:
There is much to say about automation tools, but the choice of the tool itself depends on the test scenario requirements. In most cases, there are several tools used at once and where each of them tests a different level of system architecture. It is important to look for the following features when choosing them:
Some of the reliable and recommended testing tools that provide automation for various products include the following:
Selenium is used to test websites and web applications on different operating systems and browsers. Among the main ones: Python, Perl, PHP, Java, C#, etc.
The tool allows you to automate testing for web and mobile applications, software, databases, and application programming interfaces (APIs). It supports regression and cross-browser testing.
The functionality of this tool provides load testing for such connections as FTP, HTTP, JDBC, POP3, LDAP, etc. It can be used to create a group of requests from several PCs at once.
This easy-to-use tool is designed for cross-platform automated tests with object identification and built-in analytics.
Postman is used to test the operation of application program interfaces (APIs) and websites, as well as to send requests to the server. Thanks to the graphical interface, it is easy to configure all the necessary data for tests.
The benefits of automated testing include the following:
And, on the other hand, the negative aspects of using purely automated testing:
A manual tester has a more intuitive understanding of how the software feels to the user since they spend many hours using the product and experience it as a user. As a result, the manual testing team is better able to test the interaction with the product. In addition, manual testing can sometimes find coding errors that automated tests cannot detect. And as defects become more complex over time, it becomes more and more important to use human intelligence to detect and resolve them.
While automation may seem like the answer to everything, it's not always the case when it comes to managing the testing process. In fact, sometimes it can be more beneficial to turn back to manual testing to verify some aspects of a project. The only difficulty then is for managers to understand which method is best suited to the situation. Here are some cases where QA teams should use manual testing instead of automation:
Using manual tests, QA specialists can quickly test and see the results immediately. In contrast, automated testing takes more time to set up and therefore requires more time and effort. This is why running manual tests provides more flexibility. If testers have a clear idea of a specific scenario that must be tested immediately, they can run the test manually. However, if it is necessary to repeat the tests with different inputs and values, automation will be useful to maximize efficiency.
Since automation requires more investment and preparation, it is not a good option for a short-term project that focuses on minor features or minimal code. The effort and cost required to create test information would be excessive for such a narrow scale.
Automation can technically test the product, however, the one thing that automation cannot do is test usability. There is no way for a machine to decide whether a website or program is user-friendly without actually testing it with real people and using their perceptions to make the necessary conclusions.
Manual testing is also used in the following types of testing:
The advantages of manual testing include the following:
The disadvantages of manual testing include
In this article, we have covered the difference between automated and manual testing for beginners who are interested in both types of testing. In particular, we have introduced the specifics of the processes, advantages and disadvantages of each type of testing, and tools for performing testing. We hope that our article will be useful for beginners to further choose their path in the field of testing.
