Businesses will be keen to ensure that their software is up to the job. This means it should be free from coding errors and also compatible with the majority of the different browsers and platforms out there. The cross browser testing tools available can ensure browser compatibility is taken into account too for a business looking to make its operations more efficient and smoother for more people and not just a bespoke few.
Let us consider, under three headings, this issue of error-free compatibility in software testing.
Software Testing
Software testing is an incredibly important process for businesses. Ensuring that software works correctly for all concerned can avoid costly mistakes when it is free from errors in coding and is confirmed as being compatible with different browsers and platforms. This can help your business to run with a smoothness of efficiency that everyone will appreciate, from the staff member to the customer.
Software testing can be a time-consuming process, but it’s well worth the effort to avoid any nasty surprises further down the line. Also, automation has made the process easier, cheaper, and more effective. It will pick up more errors and yet not take a business so long to do.
Error-Free Coding
Using software testing, businesses should be looking to achieve error-free coding as a way of preventing software problems in the future. Nobody likes the wrong kind of surprises. Particularly businesses that cannot afford costly software mistakes to come to light when they could have been prevented or minimized through earlier detection. This insurance, as it were, can be achieved by using software development methodologies such as ‘test-driven development (TDD).’
TDD is a software development process that relies on tests being written before the software code itself. This helps to ensure that the code meets the requirements set out in the tests and can avoid software issues coming to light later on.
Compatibility
Another important issue for businesses is software compatibility. Ensuring that software works correctly across different browsers and platforms is vital for a business to avoid any potential issues. More and more of us are using mobile devices and this creates more demand for cross-browser software testing tools to ensure that compatibility is maintained.
There are several ways to achieve software compatibility. One way is to use software that is designed to be compatible with the majority of browsers and platforms. Another way is to use software that can be ‘transpiled’ or ‘polyfilled,’ which means it can be converted into code that is compatible with different browsers and platforms.
Transpiling is the process of transforming code written in one language into another. For example, transpiling CoffeeScript to JavaScript. This is often used when targeting a specific browser or platform.
JavaScript is a popular language for software development, but it can be difficult to target different browsers and platforms with it. By transpiling CoffeeScript to JavaScript, software developers can target a specific browser or platform while still using a language that they’re familiar with.
Polyfilling is the process of filling in the gaps in older browsers’ support for newer web standards. This allows software developers to write code using the latest standards, without having to worry about whether it will work in older browsers.
The whole software development process relies on tests being written before the software code itself. This helps to ensure that the code meets the requirements set out in the tests and can avoid software issues further down the line. The option of purchasing software testing tools later is still not one a business can ordinarily afford to reject because errors in software are inevitable at every stage. Any error is best detected and dealt with at the earliest possible opportunity.
