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LAST UPDATED: FEBRUARY 19, 2023

Difference Between Black Box and White Box Testing

Whether it's online or mobile application software, software testing is an essential element of the development process. Testing not only ensures that the software product is of high quality but also allows the developer to make improvements.

Almost every software application, whether it's a tiny line of code or a sophisticated program, involves some amount of coding. The developer will need to run a few tests to check that the code works smoothly and accomplishes its tasks. Developers often do two kinds of testing at this point: black box software testing and white box software testing.

Difference Between Black Box and White Box Testing

What is Black Box Testing and How Does it Work?

Testing a product or application's functioning without understanding much about its underlying structure, design, or implementation is known as black box software testing. Behavioral, opaque-box, closed-box, specification-based, or eye-to-eye testing are all terms used to describe this kind of testing.

This software testing approach lets the tester to enter data and see the results appear on the screen. By assessing all key subsystems, a black box test will evaluate whether the program or application delivers on its promise. UI/UX, web server or application server, database, dependencies, and integrated systems are all verified during a black box test.

Black Box Testing Types

1). Testing of Functionality

Functional testing focuses on the software's most important features, including as integration between essential components and the complete system. This approach covers smoke testing/sanity testing, integration testing, and system testing, and it checks various functions and aspects of the product. This form of testing is often used to ensure that someone can log in with the correct credentials while those who input incorrect credentials cannot.

2). Non-functional Testing

Non-functional testing is a kind of testing that goes beyond checking features and functions. Rather than determining whether or whether the program can execute a task, it examines how the software accomplishes that task.

This sort of testing will determine if the program is simple to use and comprehend, how well it works under peak loads, whether it is compatible with relevant devices and browsers, and whether it is vulnerable to security risks.

3). Testing for Regression

Regression testing is performed on the software's functional elements to see whether a new version has a regression or decrease in capabilities. This testing is done to see whether a particular feature no longer works in a new version or if a previously successful action now fails in the new version.

What is White Box Testing and How Does it Work?

Unlike black box software testing, white box software testing requires a thorough understanding of the software system's underlying structure, design, implementation, and code, among other things. This form of testing is used to ensure that input and output are flowing correctly in order to enhance software design, usability, and security.

Because the code is visible to the testers, white box software testing is also known as clear box testing, open box testing, transparent box testing, code-based testing, and glass box testing. This technique of testing looks for internal security flaws and broken codes in the program. It examines source code or binaries for defects and other issues and provides feedback.

1). Unit testing

The first sort of testing conducted on an application is unit testing. This is frequently repeated for each unit or block of code as it is written. Unit testing is carried out by a programmer who must write a few lines of code or tests to ensure that the software is functioning properly.

The fundamental benefit of unit testing is that it identifies defects early in the software development process, making it simpler and less expensive to correct them.

2). Testing for Mutations

Mutation testing is performed on code units to ensure that they are resilient and consistent. The tester will make minor, random modifications to the code to determine whether they affect the desired result.

3). Integrity Checking

Integration testing, as the name implies, examines how internal components of a software system interact with one another or with an external system.

4). Penetration testing

When a tester does white box penetration testing, he or she pretends to be a hacker and attacks a software program. This individual will need to be familiar with the source code of the program, as well as network details, IP addresses, and server information. The primary goal is to attack the code from numerous sides in order to find any security flaws or dangers.

5). Analysis of Static Code

In static code , static code analysis detects coding faults and vulnerabilities. Predefined patterns or machine learning analyses are used to accomplish this.

Comparison Table Between Black Box Testing And White Box Testing

Black Box Testing White Box Testing
  • It's a kind of software testing where the program is handled as if it were a black box. The application's tester is unaware of the application's internal workings.
  • It is a method of software testing in which the tester/developer is familiar with the code or software program's internal structure.
  • Software testers are the ones who do it the most.
  • Software developers are the ones who do it the most.
  • The primary goal of this test is to determine what functions the system must accomplish.
  • The primary goal of white-box testing is to determine how well a system works.
  • There is no requirement to know how to implement or code.
  • Knowledge of implementation and code is necessary.
  • It's a software functionality test.
  • It's a software structure that's being tested.
  • These tests might be started in response to the customer's requirements. Using the required specification paper as a starting point.
  • This sort of test begins only when the team has completed the software product's design description. Using the complete design document as a guide.
  • This method is time-consuming and labor-intensive.
  • Because the majority of the tests are automated, this method takes less time.

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About the author:
Adarsh Kumar Singh is a technology writer with a passion for coding and programming. With years of experience in the technical field, he has established a reputation as a knowledgeable and insightful writer on a range of technical topics.