What is Automation and what is Test Automation?
Automation:
Automation is
the technology by which a process or procedure is performed without human
assistance. Automation is the use of various control
systems for operating equipment such as machinery, processes in
factories, boilers and heat treating ovens, switching on telephone networks,
steering and stabilization of ships, aircraft and other applications and
vehicles with minimal or reduced human intervention. Some processes have been
completely automated.
And what is Test Automation?
In software testing, test automation is the use of special software (separate from the software being tested) to control
the execution of tests and the comparison of actual outcomes with predicted
outcomes. Test automation can automate some repetitive but necessary
tasks in a formalized testing process already in place, or perform additional
testing that would be difficult to do manually. Test automation is critical for continuous delivery and continuous testing.
The
objective of automated testing is to simplify as much of the testing effort as
possible with a minimum set of scripts. If unit testing consumes a large percentage of a quality assurance (QA) team's resources, for example, then this process might be a
good candidate for automation. Automated testing tools are capable of executing
tests, reporting outcomes and comparing results with earlier test runs. Tests
carried out with these tools can be run repeatedly, at any time of day.
