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Difference between Testing and Debugging

Over and over again, in many interviews interviewer ask the question to software testing candidates that explain me about what is exact Difference between Software Testing and Debugging. For a layman, both terminologies are same but these are two separate terms. The difference between Testing and Debugging are most important terms for those who are new in the Software Testing field.

What is Testing?

Testing: Fundamentally, testing is a process to check if the system is working same as it was supposed to do, and not working as it was not supposed to do. It is done by the tester to identify the defects in the system (actual result of test case execution is not matching with expected result). It can be done using Manual and automated way. The issues are logged against the all failed cases and communicate to the dev team for debugging and fixing. After the bug fixes then tester retest the bug and checks if the issue is no more exists. You may interest in – Defect Life Cycle.

What is Debugging?

Debugging is the activity performed by developers to fix the bug found in the system. This is manual step by step unstructured and unreliable process to find and removes a specific bug from the system.

It is done by the developers to fix the defect in the system. Based on the defects reported, the developer starts analyzing the root cause of the defect to make system defect free. The developers need to fix the code to make actual result same as expected result. With the help of details added in the defect developer follow steps mentioned and check the loopholes in the particular code area. They may use a different tool for debugging. On fixing the defect developer send back the defect to a tester for retesting.

I think you understood what is the basic difference between testing and debugging. Learn more detailed about this difference.

Difference between Testing and Debugging:

Testing	Debugging
Testing gets started with known conditions with expected results.	This is manual step by step unstructured and unreliable process to find and removes a specific bug from the system.
It performed based on the testing type which we need to perform unit testing, integration testing, system testing, user acceptance testing, stress, load, performance testing etc.	It performed based on the type of bug.
Testing is the process which can be planned, designed and executed.	Debugging is the process which cannot be so forced.
It is the process to identify the failure of implemented code.	It is the process to give the absolution to code failure.
It is a demonstration of error or apparent correctness.	It is always treated as a deductive process.
Testing is the display of errors	It is a deductive process
Design knowledge is not required for testing the system under test. Any person with or without test case can do testing.	Detailed design knowledge is definitely required to perform debugging.
Testing can be outsourced to outside team as well.	Debugging cannot be outsourced to outside team. It must be done by inside development team.
Most of the test cases in testing can be automated.	Automation in the debugging cannot possible.
Testing is the process to identify the bugs in the system under test.	Debugging is the process to identify the root cause of the bugs.

Conclusion

These are the main Differences between Testing and Debugging, the key difference is that debugging is performed by developers and they fix the issues filed by testers in debugging phase. The result of debugging is the issue got resolved and available for retesting. Testers do not fix the defects; rather they verify the defects fixed by the developers.

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