Is blackbox testing dead ?

Testing an integral part of technology, without which, all of us will be banging our devices hard on the ground out of sheer frustration. Any technology which works on algorithms and coding goes through a series of testing before it becomes worthy of being handed over to consumers like you and me.

On April 26, 1994, a China Airlines Airbus A300 crashed because of a product bug. Out of the 271 people on board, 264 of them lost their lives. That’s how important software testing is, there could be lives at stake.

Software testing wants to know if the software/product is working in line with the expectations that have been set for it. It ensures that the product is without any defect that would render the product useless to the consumer.

There are two types of testing:

1. Blackbox testing- In this type, the testing is only done around sources of info and yield of the product framework. Let’s say we are testing the application Slack. We will only be testing if all the features work correctly in Blackbox testing.
2. White Box testing- In this, the inside structure of the product/software is tested. The tester should be familiar with its inner workings. For eg: a TV mechanic cares about how the parts inside it are working and takes care of that.

In this article, we are going to discuss if Black box testing is dead. Well, the most straightforward answer to the previous question would be this- Black box testing isn’t dead, but it is rapidly changing. Thanks to Agile development and agile testing methods gaining prominence, the roles of testers and developers are blurring, rapidly at that.

Blackbox testing is a useful technique for UI testing. By doing so, you will enhance the experience of the end-user when they are interacting with the product. Users do not care how the product works internally, all that matters to them is if the product is easy to use and can be manipulated according to their needs.

To sum it up, only the nature of testing has changed.

How to do Black Box testing?

1. Set the requirements
2. For each requirement, set specific tests.
3. Assign the tests to different testers
4. Run the test
5. If there are any issues that you find, fix them

If you are looking for quicker test case development, or you are planning to perform the test from a user’s point of view, then Black Box testing is your best bet. It also provides an unbiased report towards the code’s functionality.

The problem with Black Box testing is that test processes can be missed or even repeated. Because of the lack of coding knowledge of the tester, all the aspects of the application cannot be tested. There needs to be thorough specifications about the project for the testing to fetch the best results. There are different types of software quality testing, choose the one that augurs well for your needs.

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