1:58 PM
Kinsz
There's a big demand for new software at the moment. Almost everyone seems to have a smartphone these days, and aside from the integral software that makes android and iOS tick, there is a multitude of app-based software hitting the market. This is on top of the existing market for personal computers. But with demand for software comes an increased danger of products not coming up to scratch, and that means that software testing has to be more intense than ever.
Seeing the scale of errors in a piece of software when it turns up on the desk of the testers puts this necessity into perspective. There can be one mistake for every ten lines of code. A tenth of all code being flawed is an unassailable blot on the product's effectiveness, and it seems remarkable that it can get as far as testing to spot this, but that's just the way things are. It's not creative programmers' faults - they have to churn out new code as fast as they can in most instances - but if it goes unchecked it can lead to the product failing.
You only have to look at a few examples of where software testing hasn't been used to its full extant to see why it's so crucial. In November of last year, Samsung's Galaxy Nexus 'Ice Cream Sandwich' devices turned out to have an inherent bug. It was only a relatively minor issue in terms of user enjoyment - the volume would turn down if the virtual memory was being pushing to its limits - but this blind spot in the coding led to Vodaphone refusing to sell the device at the busiest retail period of the year. Companies can't afford to make such errors.
With consumers being so well connected and vocal in their response to every aspect of each new bit of software, it's incredibly daunting to release anything into their hands. But testing helps this too: with good testing a level of confidence in the product can be assured before it ever hits the shelves.
You can't cover absolutely every eventuality, but software testing can make the chances of a product working well once it's released much higher. It is as essential as taste-testing a new recipe before giving it to other people.
Seeing the scale of errors in a piece of software when it turns up on the desk of the testers puts this necessity into perspective. There can be one mistake for every ten lines of code. A tenth of all code being flawed is an unassailable blot on the product's effectiveness, and it seems remarkable that it can get as far as testing to spot this, but that's just the way things are. It's not creative programmers' faults - they have to churn out new code as fast as they can in most instances - but if it goes unchecked it can lead to the product failing.
You only have to look at a few examples of where software testing hasn't been used to its full extant to see why it's so crucial. In November of last year, Samsung's Galaxy Nexus 'Ice Cream Sandwich' devices turned out to have an inherent bug. It was only a relatively minor issue in terms of user enjoyment - the volume would turn down if the virtual memory was being pushing to its limits - but this blind spot in the coding led to Vodaphone refusing to sell the device at the busiest retail period of the year. Companies can't afford to make such errors.
With consumers being so well connected and vocal in their response to every aspect of each new bit of software, it's incredibly daunting to release anything into their hands. But testing helps this too: with good testing a level of confidence in the product can be assured before it ever hits the shelves.
You can't cover absolutely every eventuality, but software testing can make the chances of a product working well once it's released much higher. It is as essential as taste-testing a new recipe before giving it to other people.
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