Smoke Testing: A practical guide for companies

Smoke testing is an essential part of software development and testing. It is a quick and easy way to ensure that the basic functionality of a product or application is working as expected. Smoke testing is typically done early in the development process, before more in-depth testing takes place. This guide will explain what smoke testing is, its benefits, and provide practical examples of companies that use smoke testing in their development process.

1. What is smoke testing?
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Smoke testing, also known as "Build Verification Testing" is a type of software testing that is used to determine if the most critical functions of a product or application are working correctly. The goal of smoke testing is to quickly identify any major issues or bugs that would prevent the product from being used, and to ensure that the product is stable enough to proceed with further testing.

Smoke testing is typically done on a new build of a product, and it is usually the first test run after a new version of the product is released. The test usually includes a series of basic functional tests that check the most critical features of the product. If these tests pass, the build is considered stable, and further testing can proceed.

2. Benefits of smoke testing
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Smoke testing has several benefits for companies that use it in their development process.
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• Quickly Identify Major Issues: Smoke testing allows companies to quickly identify major issues or bugs that would prevent the product from being used. This helps to minimize the risk of releasing a product with major bugs or issues.
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• Save Time and Resources: Smoke testing is a quick and easy process that can be done early in the development process. This saves time and resources that would otherwise be spent on more in-depth testing.
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• Improve Product Quality: By identifying major issues early in the development process, smoke testing can help improve the overall quality of the product.
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• Increase Customer Satisfaction: By releasing a stable and functional product, companies can increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

3. Practical examples
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• Google: Google uses smoke testing as part of their development process for their search engine and other products. Google's smoke test includes a series of basic functional tests that check the most critical features of the product. If these tests pass, the build is considered stable, and further testing can proceed. One example of how Google uses smoke testing is during the development of their search engine. The development team creates a new build of the search engine and runs a series of basic functional tests to check the most critical features such as the ability to perform a search, displaying the results and the ability to filter the results.
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• Amazon: Amazon also uses smoke testing as part of their development process. Amazon's smoke test includes a series of basic functional tests that check the most critical features of the product. One example of how Amazon uses smoke testing is during the development of their e-commerce website. The development team creates a new build of the website and runs a series of basic functional tests to check the most critical features such as the ability to add items to the cart, checkout process, and the ability to search for products.
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• Uber: Uber uses smoke testing to ensure that their app is stable and functional. Uber's smoke test includes a series of basic functional tests that check the most critical features of the product. Uber uses smoke testing in their driver app development. They run a series of functional tests on the new build of the driver app to check for basic functionality such as accepting a ride request, navigating to the pickup location and completing the ride. This helps Uber to quickly identify any major issues and fix them before releasing the app to the public.

Conclusion
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Smoke testing is an essential part of software development and testing. It is a quick and easy way to ensure that the basic functionality of a product or application is working as expected. Smoke testing is typically done early in the development process, before more in-depth testing takes place. The benefits of smoke testing include quickly identifying major issues, saving time and resources, improving product quality, and increasing customer satisfaction. Practical examples of companies that use smoke testing in their development process include Google, Amazon, and Uber.