Types of Software Testing

Manual vs Automation Testing

• Manual - a human executes cases; best for new features, UI/UX feel, exploratory work.
• Automation - scripts execute cases; best for regression, repeated and data-driven checks.

Functional vs Non-Functional Testing

• Functional - what the system does: login works, cart totals are correct, APIs return expected JSON.
• Non-functional - how the system behaves: speed, load capacity, security, usability, compatibility.

Full Catalogue

• Unit, Integration, System, Acceptance (UAT)
• Smoke (shallow build check), Sanity (narrow fix check), Regression (nothing broke), Retesting (the fix works)
• End-to-End, Exploratory, Ad-hoc, Alpha/Beta
• Performance (load, stress, endurance), Security, Usability, Compatibility, Accessibility

When to Automate

Automate stable, high-value regression: login, checkout, core APIs. Keep automating new, volatile or one-off UI in manual/exploratory testing.

Key Points

• Functional = correct behaviour; non-functional = correct qualities.
• Smoke asks can we test; sanity asks should we test this fix.
• 100 percent automation is a myth; automate the boring, explore the risky.