Introduction
The Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) is a set of sequential activities carried out by the testing team to ensure the quality of the software or the product. It refers to all the activities performed during the testing process, starting from the requirement gathering phase to the closure phase.
History & Evolution
Software testing has been present ever since software inception, but its methodological approach and recognition as a separate entity began in the 1950s and 1960s. As software applications started growing in complexity, it became clear that a more structured, systematic approach to testing was necessary. What started as mere debugging exercises changed into a significant milestone, giving birth to STLC breaking down the complex testing process into different stages for better coverage and quality.
Need for STLC
STLC is essential to ensure a systematic and well-structured testing process. It helps ensure that every aspect of the software product, from functionality and design to user experience, is thoroughly tested. It eliminates the guesswork from testing activities and provides a roadmap for testing objectives.
Importance
STLC plays a crucial role in software development, it facilitates a structured and systematic approach, enabling more accurate planning, execution, and delivery. By catching defects in the early stage, STLC helps in saving costs of bug fixing in the later stages. Through a comprehensive testing process, STLC ensures the delivery of high-quality products.
Phases of STLC
STLC involves several distinct but interrelated phases
- Requirement Analysis: Understanding the requirements of the product.
- Test Planning: Strategizing the testing process.
- Test Case Development: Creating sets of conditions or variables used to determine if a system under test satisfies requirements.
- Test Environment Setup: Configuring hardware and software requirements necessary for testing.
- Test Execution: Actual testing of a software application.
- Test Cycle Closure: Evaluating testing cycle, activities, and lessons learned for future projects.
Drawbacks
Though STLC has numerous benefits, it also comes with a few drawbacks. The process can be time-consuming and may delay the software delivery process if not planned and executed properly. Also, it's efficient only if the testing team has full domain knowledge. False Positives or Negatives might result in waste of effort and time.
Tools
Various tools support various stages of STLC, like Requirement management tools (DOORS, Caliber), Test management tools (TestRail, qTest), Defect management tools (JIRA, Bugzilla), Automation Tools (Selenium, QTP), Performance Testing Tools (LoadRunner, JMeter), Security Testing Tools (Nessus, Wireshark).
STLC in Agile
STLC and Agile are not mutually exclusive and often go hand-in-hand. The Agile model follows a continuous testing approach where testing is done concurrently with software development. Several Agile methodologies involve STLC like Continuous Integration/ Deployment, Behaviour Driven Development, Keyword Driven Testing, etc.
Conclusion
The Software Testing Life Cycle is a pivotal component of software development. It ensures that software applications are free from defects and perform as expected. While it comes with a few challenges, proper understanding, efficient processes, and right tools can optimize it significantly to deliver an error-free software product. STLC, when incorporated with Agile practices, can result in efficient and effective software testing cycles.