Testing is a crucial part of the software development process and involves measures to check if the software meets the expected requirements and does not have any errors, defects or faults. Software testing allows developers to make any changes or improvements that are required.

The development of technologies like artificial intelligence and DevOps, for instance, will contribute significantly to software testing. The increasing popularity of agile testing and development along with automated testing, for instance, will accelerate quality assurance procedures, making it among the best testing practices this year.

There are many such trends that a Software development company will see this year and these are the best software testing practices developers must watch out for in 2021.

Automated testing

There are several tools that can be used for automated testing, where coding is not required for test creation. Various procedures are used for codeless automated testing and the tools and software use different methodologies.

Codeless testing typically uses artificial intelligence or AI along with visual modelling and this saves the time and resources a software development company would usually use on recurring test cases. In addition to efficiency, automated testing is also effective and easy to review.

Better test coverage, control and transparency are a few other benefits of codeless automated testing and this practice will see increased use in 2021.

AI and machine learning

Software testing is an area that has seen major improvements with the development of AI and machine learning technologies. Over the past few years, we have seen the use of AI/ML approaches in software testing and this will continue in 2021 and beyond.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning can be used to generate better test cases and scripts, test data, and reports. Smart analytics enhanced with visualisation will help software developers to detect faults in the software and identify areas of high risk.

It is expected that the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning will increase this year and that web and mobile application development companies will optimise their software testing practices with the use of AI.

API and services

Application Programming Interface or API and services are reused in many applications and components. Developers are thus required to test API and services separate from the application using them.

Developers will also find it more efficient and effective to test API and services that are used across client applications and components rather than testing the client. This leads to an increase in the use of API and services test automation, making it among the top practices for software testing in 2021.

Web application development services will thus benefit from learning and applying the best API testing tools and having the best process and solutions for testing API and services.

Mobile test automation

Smartphone usage keeps increasing each year and the capacity, features and uses of mobile devices are seeing a lot of expansion. This has naturally led to an increase in mobile apps. Like any type of software, mobile applications also require testing and test automation tools will be utilised for mobile apps in a greater scale this year.

For greater utilisation and optimisation, however, there needs to be more testing methods and tools. With more advanced methods of testing and automated processes, there will be more efficiency in mobile app testing.

Any developer would welcome this practice as it would save them a lot of time and make testing a time-efficient task.

Multi-device testing

When talking about software, we tend to look at web applications and mobile applications. However, with the Internet of Things or IoT changing the way we use devices, software testing now goes beyond web and mobile applications.

Wearables, smart speakers, and home appliances all require software testing and the need will only grow in the coming years. Multi-device testing tools, methods, and solutions will thus be a top software testing practice in 2021.

These are some of the best software testing practices of 2021 and advancements in AI, IoT and other technologies will push developers to build and adapt to new testing tools and methodologies this year.