White box and Black box Testing: Nowadays testing has become a vital part of software development because it is impossible to develop bug-free code without intensive and extensive testing. This article gives information about two types of testing namely White Box Testing and Black box Testing.
What is White Box testing?
White box testing is a software testing process by which the internal logic of a program or code segment is tested. It’s the type of testing when you provide input to a system and check if it will give the desired output after execution.
This method provides more detailed information about the program under test (PUT) but it can not detect the presence of errors in the PUT. Also, this type of testing is time-consuming and needs detailed specifications about input/output pairs to test each segment of the program.
What is Black Box testing?
On the other hand, Black box testing or structural testing is a software testing process by which we test each individual element in an application without giving any information about the internal logic of the application. The black-box testing method is more popular with many software professionals because it is cost-effective and less time-consuming than white box testing.
Difference Between White Box and Black Box Testing
As a software engineer, you may find yourself being asked to write both white box and black box tests. Which one is better? The difference between these two types of testing lies in the scope of the testing. Black box testing is more focused on the behavior of individual components, while white box testing is more concerned with system behavior. This article will help you understand how to identify which type of test you should be writing.
| White Box Testing | Black Box Testing |
|---|---|
| This is a process by which the software’s effectiveness, reliability, and security are tested without knowledge of its underlying internal structure. | A testing approach in which the tester knows the internal structure |
| This is performed by the software testers | This is performed by the software developers |
| Implementation knowledge is not required to test the application | Implementation knowledge is required to test the application |
| White box testing, we provide input to the program and check if it will give the proper output of that input | Black box testing we just supply the inputs without caring about the internal logic of a system. |
| White box testing requires detailed specifications about input/output pairs to test each segment of the program | Black box testing does not require this specification of input/output pairs. |
So, after discussing these two types of testing methods I would like to explain them with below-mentioned example: Suppose a program is taking input from the user and submitting it to the remote server so that it can perform some operation on the server side. White-box testing will provide more detailed information for this method because we need to know how data is being submitted to the server and what will be the output of this method.
Black-box testing is for those situations when we are not interested in internal logic and how a program performs its operation, i.e., we just need to check that what type of input is being given to a system by us whether it is giving expected output or not.
Conclusion:
White-box testing is a form of software testing where the internal logic and structure of an application are accessed. Black-box testing, on the other hand, does not involve any knowledge of how an application works internally.
Both white box and black box testing have their own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to finding bugs in applications or websites before they go live for users to use them. For example, if you’re launching a new website that has many features, it may be worth considering white-boxing your site with some trusted testers prior to going live so you can find out what could potentially break down as soon as possible.
If you’re still not sure about how these types of tests work or what goes into them, please leave your thoughts in the comment section below and we’ll respond!
