A simple static test is necessary to detect possible defects and errors during the design phase of a software application and to verify in a precise manner, the various tasks for synthesis of program modules and test plans.
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A software tester conducts static test with a minimal package that is just sufficient. Testers will get a comprehensive test plan that allows them to ascertain the operation of the product as per the criterion of how the product works and not how it was supposed to work. The significant benefits in terms of economy are obvious.
Many of the errors in the product are the results of an incomplete demand list of the tasks. A software developer often gets an inadequate or excessive set of documents. A simple static test will help solve such difficulties. With static test, you can ensure a marked drop in the number of errors that occur in the developmental phase of the application.
Some of the activities that relate to static testing include the desk checks, the code inspections, and the walkthroughs. You should also note that static testing is conducted without the need to run the program. The software developer just needs to analyze the data and the codes that are within the program.
One of the important tasks of conducting static testing is to search for possible bugs in the program. You can find many bugs in a software application. For example, the bug may occur when a software developer makes a mistake when he is designing the software such as writing the codes or defining a particular project requirement. In this case, the error will appear on the final output which is usually a document or the final code, and will be considered as “fault” or an "error".
Such errors ultimately result as design bugs in the program and also user documentation. When there is an error in the output, then the software may experience problems not only in the program design but also in the system design.
Static Testing Vs. Dynamic Testing
Testers may develop confusion between static and dynamic testing methods as both of them have similar purposes. However, you should note that you might not be able to detect bugs or errors until a failure occurs. To prevent this eventuality, you will need to run both static and dynamic testing just before running the software. The ideal situation is to terminate or eradicate bugs before they can cause damage to the system.
There are a number of visible differences between static and dynamic testing. The most basic difference is that static testing evaluates the software when it is idle, while dynamic testing operates the software to see if it functions properly.
Static testing looks for bugs in the software when it is in a passive state while dynamic software checks for errors when the software is running or under execution. So each of these tests have an approach that is unique from each other but will ultimately help the software have the functionality it should have.
Both, static and dynamic testing complement each other because they have similar goals of searching for bugs and errors in the application. Static testing has the ability to help the software developers to introduce changes or modifications right during the developmental phases.
Static Testing Methods and Techniques
Conducting a static testing involves a series of procedures and techniques that evaluate the software for possible errors and bugs. Testers will analyze the code sets within the software to conduct static testing and later run it under differing environments to check whether the software is running according to the set standards or not.
Even though it is useful test, static test may not be able to find some errors unless you actually run the software under field conditions through dynamic testing. The main goal of the software developer is to try to break the code system by running a series of tests. The process of running this test is to analyze the system response and rate of response to react to the pending challenges.
Goals of Static Testing
During static testing process, software developers basically concentrate on two goals, namely, verification and validation. Verification ensures that the software in a particular test phase will pass that phase and is therefore ready for the next phase of development and testing. On the other hand, validation is the overall presumption that the software in its entirety has the necessary requirement to function and meet the user’s expectations.
The purpose of validation and verification in software testing are not similar. For example, validation ensures that the development of right software by enabling the developers to trace back through the system to meet a particular requirement from the users.
Meanwhile, the purpose of validation is to ensure that the software will pass a particular phase during the time of development. This means that verification means ensuring that the software development is proceeding by using the correct method.
Static testing also ensures the quality of the product. In software development domain, the basic definition of quality is subjective as different software applications have differing purposes and goals. However, there are three rules that the software needs to pass in order to be considered as a “quality” software. These three considerations for quality assurance include the reliability of the software, the failure rate of the software in actual use, and of course, customer satisfaction.
Here are some issues that will help you determine whether the software under testing can pass the quality assurance or not:
- The software encounters minimal failures in testing and during the actual use.
- The software should be reliable; this means that the software needs to demonstrate extended functionality with very few incidence of crashes or unexpected behavior when it is used in the actual environment.
- The last consideration is the satisfaction of the end-users. This in itself is an indication of whether the software is of good quality or not.
Conclusion
Testers conduct static tests to ascertain the usability of different functions right through the developmental stages. Static testing is not an in-depth type of testing. However, it provides software developers useful insights about the code stricture of the software products. It also ensures that the software has the right type of code along with the correct algorithms supporting them.
Static testing is not difficult to test. The test is manual in nature, as the testers will check the codes and possible errors by using manual methods. This will help them prevent potential errors and bugs once users run the software. However, static testing is just not enough to prove the reliability of the software. Conducting static and dynamic tests together in combination will ensure proper validation, verification and all types of quality assurance tests.
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