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Software Testing - Concurrency Testing
Software is used in every walk of digital life now-a-days. So while it is being developed, it should be taken into consideration that the software will be used very frequently under many circumstances on numerous devices as per the customer requirements. A software is built by following the different stages of the software development life cycle (SDLC).
Testing is an important part of the SDLC. As the software is developed for a large number of people who will be using it simultaneously in different devices, its stability and compatibility need to be tested. Also, how it behaves while being used concurrently needs to be confirmed before being deployed to production. However, it is seen that the concurrency parameter of a software is a difficult task to implement from the development point of view.
What is Software Concurrency Testing?
The software concurrency testing is done to verify the performance of the software while there are a large number of active users on it. It is also known as the multiple user testing. It measures traffic of the software when it crashes while servicing the numerous users. It also observes the effect on the software while diverse users are using it at the same time.
For example, let us take an example of an online flight reservation software. During the time of festivals, for example Christmas, New Year, etc innumerable passengers will log in at the same time, and book the tickets of the same flight on the same day. The concurrency testing is conducted primarily to confirm the stability, and performance of the software at those times.
Process of Software Concurrency Testing
The process of the software concurrency testing are listed below −
Step 1 − Come up with a detailed test plan on concurrency testing.
Step 2 − Identify the objectives and scope of the concurrency testing.
Step 3 − Come up with both high level and low level scenarios for the concurrency testing.
Step 4 − Identify and prepare the various platforms on which the concurrency test cases will be executed.
Step 5 − Create the test environment on which the concurrency test cases will be executed.
Step 6 − Finally, multiple testers need to begin testing by doing the same actions on the software all at the same time.
Different Types of Software Concurrency Testing Techniques
The different software concurrency testing techniques are listed below −
Code Review − In this technique, the software code and its structures are tested. It requires time to complete this phase.
Static Analysis − In this technique, the software code is checked before actually running it. It helps to detect defects in the software.
Fuzz Testing − In this technique, wrong, and unplanned data is passed to the software to check how it reacts. It is not driven by any plan and is done just to get an idea how the software works and responds to bad information.
Reachability Testing − This technique is difficult to execute since there is a dependency on a large chunk of data to be fed to the software.
Random Testing − this technique is also known as the ad hoc testing.
Concurrent Test Execution − this technique is used to verify multi-threaded and concurrent software. It can easily be extended with the help of various permutations.
Challenges of Software Concurrency Testing
The challenges of the software concurrency testing are listed below −
- It is not easy to develop test cases for the software concurrency testing.
- It is difficult to detect defects during the software concurrency testing.
- The software concurrency testing is needed to be executed on multiple platforms.
- It is complicated to fix the concurrency issues in the software.
- The defects which are interlinked with time are hard to identify during the software concurrency testing.
Advantages of Software Concurrency Testing
The advantages of the software concurrency testing are listed below −
- The software concurrency testing helps to detect the data corruptions, and deadlock situations.
- The software concurrency testing increases the overall stability, reliability, and performance of the software.
Disadvantages of Software Concurrency Testing
The disadvantages of the software concurrency testing are listed below −
- The software concurrency testing requires clearly defined requirements on the testing to be performed on numerous platforms.
- The software concurrency testing requires an exhaustive testing approach.
- Replicating defects found during the software concurrency testing is not easy, and is a cumbersome process.
- The synchronous software code has a higher probability of errors than the sequential code.
Conclusion
This concludes our comprehensive take on the tutorial on Software Concurrency Testing. We’ve started with describing what is software concurrency testing, what is process of the software concurrency testing, What are the different software concurrency testing techniques, what are the challenges of the software concurrency testing, what are the advantages of software concurrency testing, and what are the disadvantages of software concurrency testing. This equips you with in-depth knowledge of Software Concurrency Testing. It is wise to keep practicing what you’ve learned and exploring others relevant to Software Testing to deepen your understanding and expand your horizons.