My First Blog: What is Regression Testing and how it mirrors the cooking process.
Some common ways that people express their love and gratitude for someone are buying them presents or by spending quality time with them. However, the way I show people that I care about them is by cooking them good food. I began to think about how closely my cooking process was mirroring regression testing.
If you're new to QA or automation, understanding regression testing is the foundation for more advanced topics like test automation. So, let’s jump into this sizzling cooking analogy. I will explain in both cooking and technical method.
Be warned there are food related words in this blog that may make you feel hungry (don’t say I didn’t warn you!)
Simple Explanation with cooking method:
Imagine you’ve been making delicious chicken biryani for years. You decide to experiment with a new brand of rice and garam masala powder. (a new code change). After cooking would you serve this to your guests without tasting it ? Of course not! You want to make sure that new changes did not ruin the magic of original.
Welcome to the new world of regression testing - the software development version of testing before serving.
Regression testing would involve for above case:
1.Re-testing:
You make sure the chicken biryani still tastes as good as before, even with the different brand of rice and garam masala. This is like running your existing test cases after the new change.
2.Checking for outcome:
You might also need to test other aspects of the chicken biriyani, like the consistency or the flavor profile, to ensure that the new brand of rice and masala doesn’t negatively affect other parts of the recipe.
3.Ensuring overall stability:
In simple terms:
Before the change: You ‘ve got a perfectly good chicken Biriyani (a stable Software version).
During the change: You add a new ingredient (a new code feature).
After the Change: You need to make sure your biriyani is still as delicious as before, and that the new ingredient hasn’t caused any unexpected problems.
Explained with Technical method:
Regression testing means running your existing tests again to make sure the software still works after adding new features or fixing bugs.
When should you do Regression Testing?
Following is a list of scenarios when you should consider running regression tests:
- When a new feature or functionality is added
- When a bug is fixed
- When a patch or update is released
- When integrating with other applications
In the above diagram you will see that in the first version (V1), feature F1 was present. In second version (V2) a new feature, F2 was added. The QA tester needs to make sure that they test both new feature and the existing one are tested to verify that everything is working as expected .
Why is Regression Testing Important?
Software Stability:
When you change code it can have some unexpected side effects. Once Regression testing is done it helps ensure that the software remains stable and reliable after updates.
Reducing Costs:
As we all know catching bugs early reduces cost and is much cheaper than fixing them in production.
Speeding Up Releases Cycle:
If regression testing is done with automation it will reduces manual testing time. With a strong regression testing suite, QA teams can release new features and updates more confidently.
Ensuring and improving code Quality:
Regression is very helpful in keeping software working properly by catching bugs that may appear after you change the code
Best Practices when it's time for Regression Testing:
Understand Software: The QA team needs to have a complete understanding of overall functionality of the software applications on which they are working. This will help them identify what areas to test in case any recent code changes are done.
Prioritize: Prioritize according to feature or module that is most important . Focus on testing critical functionalities and areas most likely to be affected by changes.
Use Test Management Tools: Use CI tools like (Jenkins or GitHub Actions) to run tests automatically on every build.
Maintain Test Cases: Keep regression suites up to date.
Test in a Production-Like Environment: Test the software in an environment that closely resembles the production environment to identify potential issues that might arise in real-world usage.
Consider Continuous Testing: Integrate regression testing into the development process to catch issues early and reduce the cost of fixing them later.
Automate Regression Testing where possible: Automate frequently used test cases for regression tests to save time and effort.
What Are the Benefits of Automated Regression Testing?
Regression testing is mostly performed by QA teams. Most of the time, with so many updates ,it's difficult to keep up with regression testing . You must automate regression testing to keep development schedules on time and under budget. Automation testing also reduces the possibility of human error.
Final Thought:
These are my final thought for this blog .When I cook food ,I always do taste test before the meal hits the dining table. Similarly, a developer or QA ensures every release meets user expectations.
So next time if developers push code , ask yourself:
"Did I taste my Chicken Biriyani?"
Thank you and Happy testing!!!!🍗
