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Software Testing Pyramid - Graphic Description

For software development to go successfully it is important to have a test strategy in place, one way to do that is through the use of the Testing Pyramid. A testing pyramid is a pyramid where all the different types of tests fit.

There are four levels often used to develop a sound testing strategy:

UI Tests

• Consisting of User Acceptance Testing (UAT) and Usability tests
• These tests cover the entire configuration from end user, to the servers used, the database used, all the components, and code

End to End Tests

• Consisting of Database, Deployment/Backout/Rollover, Failover, Maintenance, Performance/Load/Stress, Regression, Reconciliation, Scalability, Usability, and Volume tests
• These tests verify the end to end workflows of your codebase. They tests the system from the user-action entry point right to the end of the system down to the database level.

Integration Tests

• Consisting of Integration and Smoke tests
• These tests are designed to verify the integration of different parts of separate components of a software system together. This can be integration with a Database, with a Framework, with third party external software systems, or even with inter-software components between different layers.

Unit Test

• Consisting of Unit and Smoke tests
• These tests the smallest unit of code possible at the component or module level.