There are many ways to perform software testing according to its types. All these types of testing have their own purpose and usefulness. The two main types of Testing are: 

Manual Testing:

Manual testing is the testing of the software manually or without any use of automated testing software. In manual testing, the tester has to create test cases for the application software and try to run them for any errors/bugs. In manual testing, the tester starts the testing of the application just like a user will use the app, and tries to find any bugs/errors. In manual testing, all the test cases are executed manually and results are observed.

To perform this Manual testing, several test cases are formed by keeping in mind the complete working of the application and the results. This testing process is very helpful such that it finds both visible and hidden errors in the software application. The difference between expected and the result that the application gave, is considered as a bug. The bug should be fixed by the tester or the developer for making the application useful.

Manual testing must be done for any newly software application developed before performing any automated testing. Manual testing is hard to achieve and time-consuming, but it really gives better satisfaction of error-free of software application. 

Why Manual Testing is mandatory?

• Whenever a new app comes into the market, it is normal that the app contains some bugs. And these bugs are encountered when the users use the app. So, it is always advised to perform Manual Testing at least once from a perspective of end user, such that the bugs will be encountered and can be removed easily. There’s also one more benefit of Manual Testing which is while testing as a user, we can see the working and the results for creating correct test cases for users.

Stages of Manual Testing:

There are various stages of Manual Testing, such that the manual testing is divided into these phases:

1. Unit Testing: In Unit testing, we perform the testing of a component or a unit of source code of the complete program. This testing is very helpful for big programs which can take more time to test the complete program for any errors. Unit testing is time saving and also gives better results. 
2. Integration Testing: Integration Testing is performed after Unit Testing such that the individual components tested in Unit Testing are combined in integration testing and a group of components are tested for better accuracy and confirmation of error-free software. This testing is very helpful for achieving Quality Assurance in which it is evaluated how several components of an application work together.
3. System Testing: In system testing, the name itself defines its meaning which is testing the application software as a whole component. System Testing is done after Integration Testing. System Testing includes various types of testing which are stress testing, regression testing, and functional testing of the software. 
4. Acceptance Testing: Acceptance Testing is very important as it gives a clarity about the application whether it is ready for deployment or not, for the use in real world. Acceptance testing can be achieved only when the application works as it is required to perform the tasks and give desired results without any faults or errors. Only then the application is ready to deploy as a whole in real world. Acceptance testing consists of two types: internal testing and external testing. Internal testing (also called as alpha testing) is the testing of the application software by members of the organization and can only be done internally in an organization while External Testing (also called as beta testing) is performed by a limited number of people outside from the organization who will test the software just like an end-user.

Automation Testing: 

Automation Testing is the testing of the application software for any bugs or errors using another software whose purpose is to only do the testing of softwares. In some cases, we need to add our custom test cases to the automated testing application, but in other cases the app is designed to specific type of tests such that based on type of our app and its working, we have different testing applications in the market. Automated testing is very helpful for saving time. Automation testing gives accurate results very efficiently and effectively. Automation testing is also called as Test Automation. Automation testing do the same process as manual testing, but the difference is just we don’t need to test every component or complete software manually, the software will test automatically.

But it should be noted that when doing software testing, it is not possible to automate every single component to be tested automatically. For an example, the transaction of a bank using the OTP services cannot be done using automation testing because it needs to be tested manually by an end user or a tester.

Why Automation Testing is helpful?

• Automation testing is very helpful when the source code is really big, because it will consume more time to test every single component of the source code manually. In these cases, Automation testing comes into view. Automation testing also helps for the faster delivery of the software product. Simultaneously, it expands the efficiency. The automation testing software gives more accurate results as compared to testing done manually. Because sometimes, we don’t take much care as it is human nature and ignores some errors or skips some component testing, but the testing software will do its work completely and tests the whole application without giving incorrect results.

Phases of Automation Testing:

To perform automation testing, there are some phases from which the testing software goes through. Here we will discuss those phases:

1. Unit Testing: Unit testing is the testing of an individual component of a software for any bugs/errors manually. But this testing can also be automated for testing individual components of the source code or the software application.
2. API: API stands for Application Programming Interface whose task is to provide smooth integration between all the systems which uses same software application. Automation Testing uses API to test the software in all the systems. It increases the productivity of Automation Testing because in a single run, it tests all the systems for the application.

The phases of Automation Testing are very similar to Manual testing, but the difference is only that in manual testing, the software testing application is tested manually. On the other hand, the application is tested automatically by testing software in automated testing.

Software Testing tools for Automation Testing:

• Selenium
• WATIR
• Test Complete
• Visual Studio Test Professional
• IBM Rational functional Tester
• And many more….