Unit Testing vs Integration Testing

by Nataliia Vasylyna | September 9, 2016 6:28 am

The variety of testing techniques the software testing company provides is really amazing. Sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between different testing types. The choice depends on product, goals and time limits.

Both unit and integration testing[1] are used to find errors at the early stage of development. What is the difference between them?

What Are Unit Testing Distinctive Features?

• Repeatability. Unit testing[2] could be performed as many times as needed.
• Stability. The number of unit test repetitions doesn’t influence the result.
• Independency from changing values.
• Swiftness. Good unit testing should be maximum quick.
• Testing of only one use case. Unit testing even got its name because of this feature.

Integration testing has a set of specific features that should be taken into account by the tester before preceding directly to its execution.

What Are the Distinctive Features of Integration Testing?

• This type includes performance testing[3], acceptance testing and system testing.
• Constantly changing data usage.
• Low control objects creation.
• Dependency from local and external systems.
• Simultaneous testing of different use cases.

All of this makes integration testing slower, harder to repeat and more difficult to collect result data. The newcomers may consider integration testing useless and even try to substitute it with other types. On the other side, this method is perfect during regression testing[4], and the complex usage of unit and integration testing raises the quality of software testing.

Related Posts:

• Unit vs Integration vs Functional Testing[5]
• Peculiarities of Testing Levels[6]
• Why Is a Healthy Testing Process Crucial? A Full Checklist[7]

Source URL: https://blog.qatestlab.com/2016/09/09/unit-integration-testing/

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