Software development is a crucial pillar of nearly every industry. As time goes on, this statement only becomes truer.
As you might expect, though, you will need to extensively test the software before and after it has been released. More specifically, regression testing allows you to ensure that the software is still meeting the appropriate standards.
We’ve put together a quick guide that details why this type of testing is so important. Let’s take a look.
You Can Discover Harmful Bugs or Defects
As you might expect, implementing regression testing will allow you to discover harmful defects or bugs within your software. In some cases, these can be potentially serious.
For example, let’s assume that you have developed an application that allows users to find local restaurants that don’t have a large number of reviews. The end result is the discovery of hidden gems within their community.
If there is a defect in the security of your application, criminals might be able to leverage it to access other information on their mobile devices. This could easily cause a significant number of complications in the future.
For this reason, regression testing is imperative. This is especially true if a new device has recently been released, as the environment of the application may have changed significantly.
Placing an emphasis on the quality of the experience that a user has with your software can go a long way toward establishing your future success. You can visit Qualitylogic.com to learn more.
Overall Efficiency
Not every software issue presents itself as something malignant. More often than not, bugs that occur as time goes on could cause minor quality-of-life issues while using the application.
To elaborate, a bug that develops months after the software has been released could inadvertently affect the overall efficiency of the software. But, your users may not be aware that your application is running less efficiently than it should be.
This could lead them to believe that the performance they experience is the standard that you set for your software.
Frequent and thorough regression testing, however, you will be able to quickly locate and eliminate any issues that arise. This will allow you to ensure your program runs as fluidly as possible from the date of release.
You will also find that the overall quality of your application may improve.
To help put this into perspective, let’s assign an arbitrary value in terms of overall performance to a particular application. In this case, let’s call this value 90/100.
If a bug occurs after release, the performance may drop to 85/100. Through fixing this bug, the developer may discover additional bugs they originally missed before release.
Now, the performance of the application could reach 93/100. As you can tell, regression testing could have significant benefits for business.
Adhere to Standards
It should come as no surprise that developers have a large number of standards they must adhere to. In many cases, there could be severe legal consequences if they forego this obligation.
This is particularly true with applications that collect financial information.
But, there are also standards that are imposed by clients and customers. Without proper regression testing, your target demographic could easily become frustrated with your product and move on to a competitor instead.
It can be exceedingly difficult to recover from this situation — it’s in your best interest to avoid it at all costs. Fortunately, routine regression testing can help eliminate any problems that occur before the development of larger issues.
Maintain Your Reputation
Failing to properly maintain your software comes with a large number of consequences. But, a significant one that is often overlooked is the damage that can occur to your reputation.
This applies to both businesses that utilize key software and developers that release certain software.
If the software that you use on a regular basis is not tested for regression, you may not be able to provide the expected level of service to your audience. Unfortunately, this could illustrate that your business is mismanaged, unprofessional, etc.
If you release software to your target demographic and do not test for regression, you could experience a similar issue. Your audience expects a certain level of care to go into handling software that you release, and they can easily become frustrated if you don’t fix bugs, roll out necessary updates, etc.
Strengthen Your Bond With Your Audience
On the other hand, firms that frequently test their software in this manner will establish an increased level of trust with their audience. This is especially true if regression testing occurs due to feedback obtained from its users.
A common scenario could involve a handful of users complaining that the application crashes when a certain sequence of actions is performed. That sequence happens to be how these users regularly interact with the application, rendering it useless for them.
If the developer takes this seriously and attempts to find a solution, there’s a strong chance that the users affected will have much more respect for the firm. Over time, this can easily lead to increased brand loyalty.
Regression Testing Is Essential
It’s in your best interest to keep the above information in mind. From here, you will be able to handle your regression testing obligation as efficiently as possible and ensure that your software hits all of the required metrics.
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