Black Box vs White Box: Software Testing

In this article, we will discuss how the white box differs from the black box in Java. Software engineering can be divided into two categories. These are listed below:

Black box testing

This is a software testing method in which the internal design of the entity that is being tested remains hidden from the tester. During this process, only the structure and external designs are evaluated.

Process of black box testing

The following are the steps that can be followed to do black box testing:

The very first step is to examine the requirements and specifications of the system.
After the first step, testers apply valid inputs in order to verify that everything works fine. Similarly, negative test scenarios are also checked.
Testers figure out the anticipated outputs for all the inputs.
The software tester formulates test cases.
Then, actual outputs and anticipated outputs are compared.
Any errors (if found) are fixed and then tested again and so on.

Types of black box testing

There are several types of black box testing and the primary one are listed below:

Functional testing:

This type of testing is closely related to the functional requirements of the system. This is carried out by software testers.

Non-Functional testing:

Such type of testing doesn’t examine a particular functionality but it examines the usability, scalability, etc of the software.

Regression testing:

This type of testing is carried out after the error correction in the code. It checks whether the added code has affected the existing code or not.

White box testing

This is also a software testing method in which the internal design of the entity that is being tested is known to the tester. During this process, the implementation of the code is tested.

Process of white box testing

The following are the steps that can be followed to do black box testing:

The very first step is to understand the source code. The tester finds the security issues and prevents attacks from users.
The second step is to construct test cases and execute them. In this step, the source code is tested thoroughly to whether that has proper structure and flow.

Types of white box testing

There are several types of black box testing and the primary ones are listed below:

Unit testing:

This represents the first type of testing carried out on an application. It is performed block-wise.

Memory leaks check:

Memory leaks present in the application are responsible for slowing down the running application. Generally, the quality assurance team is responsible to check such types of memory leaks in the application.

Difference between the White box and Black box

The difference between black box testing and white box testing are given below:

Black box testing	White box testing
It is Carried out by software testers mostly.	Carried out by software developers mostly.
There is no need for knowledge of the implementation.	Good knowledge of implementation is required.
It represents the functional test of the software.	It represents the structural test of the software.
It consumes less time as compared to white box testing.	It consumes more time as compared to white-box testing.
It is considered behavioral testing of the software.	It is considered logical testing of the program or software.
Compared to white box testing, it is less exhaustive.	As compared to black box testing, it is more exhaustive.
Programming knowledge is not required.	It is mandatory to have programming knowledge.

Conclusion

In this article, we have highlighted the difference between the white box and the black box. I hope this article has helped you to improve your knowledge in the field of Java.