Goals and Tasks of Regression Testing Services Providers
Goals and Tasks of Regression Testing Services Providers
In making changes to the programs it is necessary to ensure that its quality will not suffer due to such amendments. Therefore, to preserve the quality of the software there is a tendency to conduct regression testing – a high-priced but necessary activity carried out during the maintenance phase and aimed at rechecking the correctness of the modified program.
According to the standard definition, regression testing is referred to as a sampling testing to ensure that modifications do not cause unwanted side effects, or that the modified system continues to meet the requirements. Regression testing services are provided to detect the bugs that may be accidentally introduced in the code.
The main objective of the maintenance phase is the implementation of a systematic process of handling the code changes. After each modification of the program it is necessary to make sure that its functionality still works as intended and has not been adversely affected by the modified code. If such a situation still takes place, it is surely caused by a regression defect.
Regression testing to re-examine previously working functionality, which is not planned to be changed, is performed using previously developed tests. One of the purposes of the regression test is, in accordance with the code coverage criterion used (e.g., statement or data flow coverage criteria), to ensure the same level of coverage achieved in the complete retesting of the program. To do this, run the tests relating to the changed parts of the code or functional capabilities of the product. QA testing company will be able to thoroughly examine developed software apps with the aim to find and eliminate all the problems leading to failure in their operation.
Let T = {11, t2,. . tN} be a set of N tests used in the initial development of the program P, and Tr S T – subset of regression tests designed for testing the new version of program P ‘.
Information about the code coverage, provided by T ‘, allows you to specify blocks P’, requiring additional testing, which may require a restart of some tests selected from a variety of I’D G ‘, or even the creation of T’ ‘ – a set of new tests for the P’ – and the update T.
Another objective of regression testing is to ensure that the program operates according to its specifications, and that the changes have not introduced the side effects in the existing functionality or the previously tested code. This goal can always be achieved by re-running all the tests from a regression test set, but it is better to eliminate the tests, in which the output of the modified and old programs cannot be differentiated.
Actually, regressions tests as well as the rest of tests are best done within the walls of QA lab especially if it is appropriately equipped. This approach allows people to get the most accurate test execution results.
