Why Modern Automation Tools Are Far From Being Perfect

June 15 10:00 2015 by Nataliia Vasylyna Print This Article

Since 1950s software products began rapid evolution; various programming languages appeared one by one. Programs and computers became more complex and powerful.

Automated testing has been actively utilized for a few decades. Till late 1980s it required complex and cumbersome equipment and could be performed only by certain organizations specializing in such activities. One could test only the whole system; automated unit testing was unavailable at that time.

The programmers could not test their programs, as they didn’t have the required equipment.

Nowadays one doesn’t need any sophisticated equipment for functional testing, usability testing, security testing. In most cases a personal computer and mobile device, if it is mobile testing, are enough.

There are plenty of tools at modern market allowing to verify the software through the user interface. Some of the tools don’t require programming skills from the testers. Most of them can imitate the user activity or record and then play back the user actions.

Tools of those types are widely utilized both by software testers and programmers. But automated test engineers claim that they have some drawbacks. The tests created by means of such tools lack flexibility and require much effort for maintenance. They must be edited after the slightest changes in the system what considerably deteriorates the project profitability.