Why are many software development companies today mostly focused on software automation? The thing is that traditional software development (the way it was done ten years ago) is slow and time-consuming. Just have a look at this sample: an average software developer spends at least four hours every week on testing and four hours waiting for builds to be completed.
If we check the statistical data, we can see that the IT environment was more manual than automated in 2019. But today, things are gradually changing due to automation development. So in this review, we’ll have a look at the main benefits of software automation, and the latest trends in automation software development.
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What Are the Key Characteristics of Automation in Software Development?
What is automation software? In IT, it is the use of certain instructions to make a repeated procedure that replaces manual work in various cloud deployments and data centers. To make this process simple, lots of software tools and frameworks are used. Their main purpose is to speed up your work and save some time.
The main goal of Gravum is creating quality software. That’s why we use all the latest trends that allow us to develop the best products in line with our customers’ needs within a shorter timeframe. So let’s have a look at the main distinctive features of the automated software development process:
- A common code repository. Modern developers usually place the code in the common repository. They don’t have extra programs or scripts distributed any other way.
- A fast build process. Thanks to automation tools, the software is built faster. Therefore developers have more time for testing and implementing fixes.
- The automated build process. To get the current version of the software, there’s no need to do it manually. The build process is automated.
- The testing environment should be similar to the production environment.
What Are the Main Benefits of Automating Software Development?
Here are a few advantages of automating the development process:
- You’ll make the process faster and more ordered.
- If necessary, you can easily rebuild development environments. The main problem of developers with bad automation is to check how the software works in different environments. You know that every environment has specific characteristics. That’s why the code developed in one environment may work differently in another one. When using automated environment rebuilds, this problem can easily be solved.
- You can “build” the software to check how it works because the assessment of the results doesn’t cause any difficulties.
- You can be certain that every member of your team is working on one and the same software version.
Automated Testing as the Main Thing That Can Boost the Productivity of Developers
Unfortunately, today we still have many companies that prefer doing different processes manually. However, the main thing that can boost the productivity of a software development team is automation software engineering and automated testing.
You know that software products that are released today are very complex because they include a variety of different codes. If you change one code, it may influence the whole system. However, it is really hard to check the whole system for errors. Moreover, performing all these manual testing scenarios is time-consuming and very expensive. The main solution to this problem is the use of automated testing. Today, developers that value their precious time and always strive to reach perfection use a variety of software testing tools that can help them work smarter.
Here are a few crucially important characteristics of automated testing:
- It is of prime importance for any developer to check how the code is working. They should do this automatically in their development environment.
- All the tests should check the whole software. Simply put, the tests should check all the important features of the program. When all the tests are completed successfully, they can feel certain that the software will be properly running.
- All the tests should be quick. Otherwise, it takes a lot of time to do this manually. Moreover, developers should run tests every time they make some changes in the software.
- Any change in the software should always be checked. In this case, you need to use automated testing because this saves the whole development team from lots of issues.
Remember that by automating the whole building process, you will create ideal working conditions. You and each member of your team will always know everything about the software state at any development stage.
A Brief Overview of the Best Automated Software Testing Tools
The benefits and popularity of software automation have resulted in the development of many automated software testing tools:
- Selenium. First, this tool was released in 2004, but its current version includes Selenium WebDriver and IDE components. This tool is mostly used for creating fast bug reproduction scripts. Moreover, this solution is compatible with the majority of web browsers and supports many programming languages.
- Appium. This automated testing tool is mostly used with hybrid, native and mobile web apps. Its main purpose is to automate mobile app testing without recompilation.
- Katalon Studio – a superb cross-platform tool that is completely free and very easy to use. Automation testers choose this solution for creating automation scripts using Java or JavaScript.
- Eggplant Functional. Compared to the above-mentioned tools, this solution uses an image-based approach to testing. Users of Bamboo, IBM RQM, HP Application Lifecycle Management, and IBM UrbanCode can find a variety of useful plugins in this tool.
Software development is impossible without automation tools. Modern tools for automation are polished, fast, and versatile. Moreover, they support any testing strategy. We at Gravum are constantly aiming for perfection and always do everything to meet customers’ needs. However, when it comes to choosing software automation tools that will help speed up the development process, it is important for us not to let the popularity of this tool influence the decision-making process.