QA in Software Development - Top Tools and Processes

Quality assurance testing is integral to the success of any new software development project. Businesses invest in the development of custom software solutions to streamline business processes and operations. All code, therefore, needs to be rigorously tested for bugs, quality, and operability.

What is QA Testing?

QA in software development ensures that code is bug-free and ready for deployment. Quality assurance testing also ensures that software serves its intended purpose.

- Quality assurance testing compares software functionality with clients’ original requirements.

- Software is tested for security and performance.

- QA testing tests apps for cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility.

Quality assurance testing also makes sure that software can be integrated with existing software if this is necessary.

What are the Best Tools for Quality Assurance Testing?

QA in software development needs to be meticulous. However, thorough testing can delay the delivery of projects. Developers, therefore, use secondary processes and tools to help automate testing.

DevOps

DevOps is widely considered the industry standard in quality assurance testing. At its core, DevOps is a set of working practices that automate collaborative processes between IT teams and software development teams.

Widely embraced by Agile developers, DevOps focuses on streamlining communication between developers (Devs) and end software operators (Ops). In practice, this sees QA testing take the form of continuous deliveries. Software is created, sent to operators for review, then modified and redelivered if necessary.

Jira

As part of DevOps QA strategy, many developers and software operators use collaboration platforms like Jira.

As a collaboration tool, Jira provides developers and their clients with an easy way to plan and track development. More specifically, Jira allows all involved in software development to track issues and resolve these. Only when all issues are resolved, do clients and developers mutually agree that a development cycle is complete.

Kubernetes

Kubernetes is an opensource container-orchestration platform that allows users to create multiple containers for in-development software projects.

Intelligent scaling and container management allows developers and their clients to run several instances of applications in safe testing environments. This expedites QA testing and the final delivery of new software projects.

Docker

Often used in conjunction with Kubernetes, Docker is a platform made up of a suite of products that offer operating-system-level virtualization of software.

Typically, software developers use Docker to deliver software for testing in secure containers. This allows software operators to test new products quickly and communicate and issues directly to developers.

Katalon Studio

Katalon Studio is a for-purpose QA testing platform that supports the testing of software for Windows, Mac, and Linux. However, Katalon Studio is most frequently used to test new web and mobile applications.

Future QA Testing Advances

In every case, successful QA testing is wholly dependent on there being unincumbered communication by software developers and operators. However, new advances in QA testing are also seeing processes automated further using AI to check code for bugs and security vulnerabilities.