Introduction
If you are a frequent user of the internet, you would’ve come across the ad saying “Automation in boom”, “Automation might be your next job” and many more similar ones. Have you ever wondered what automation is all about?
This is how Wikipedia defines automation: “Automation or automatic control is the use of various control systems for operating equipment such as machinery, processes in factories, boilers and heat treating ovens, switching in telephone networks, steering and stabilization of ships, aircraft and other applications with minimal or reduced human intervention.” It would be inappropriate to confine automation to this definition. The application of automation is beyond this definition.
Automation has existed for quite a while. “General Motors” was the first organization to have an automation division which explicitly used feedback controllers introduced in the early 1930s.
It was not until 1970s that automation transcended into the IT industry, when a group of engineers from Honeywell built DCS (Distributed Control System). This is where it all began. The industry also happened to witness the evolution of “Programmable logic controllers” which was the brain child of Dick Morley et al in the same decade.
Today automation has evolved so much that it has become an indivisible and an integral part of almost every organization. It’s been used majorly in segments like “Building Automation, Embedded Automation, Machine Tools, Material Handling, Pharmaceutical, Power and Energy”. The market is flooding with automation tools, each of which has its own pros and cons. Having said that, there is no such thing as the perfect automation tool, it is this element of dissatisfaction that has been helping the technology to evolve.
There are lots of automation tools available depending on the software or part of the software that requires to be tested. Here are some major tools:
GUI Testing
- AutoIt
- CubicTest
- HP WinRunner
Web Testing
- Selenium
- Test Complete
- iMacros
Now you might be wondering why we need Automation?
Regression testing: Automation comes to the aid of testing whether the update you are about to release indeed did not introduce new defects or affected the normal workflow, when time is critical.
Durability testing: When we need to test the durability of an application over a period of time, manual testing becomes cumbersome and a pain to the tester. Having a script that lets you do the testing, collect evidences and organize those evidences for you would give you more time to concentrate on other things.
Performance testing: When testing a particular service provided by the software, we might have to execute multiple test cases simultaneously on different machines just to check the performance of the application is not hampered by the increasing number of requests that has been generated. Automation scripts can be deployed to execute test plans on multiple hosts to simulate the requests that can be generated post its release.
At the end of the day, you achieve more in less time, reduce the resource consumption, reduce the effort required and still have time for yourself.
So is automation only Test driven or let me put it this way, is the scope of automation limited to testing?
No, absolutely not. Anyone can use automation to cut down the time that they spend doing routine tasks every day like logging into a domains or launching an application for instance. On an estimate, about 80 percent of our daily routines can be automated, giving you a whole lot of time to invest on your interests.
Is automation tough? Can anyone learn automation?
No, it’s not rocket science. All you need to know is how you want to get things done. Start with small and gradually progress into larger projects. And yes, anyone with as much as little technical knowledge can learn to automate.
Which tool am I using?
Currently, I’m using Test execute by smart bear.
Which tool should I use?
The choice is left to you. But here are some resources which you can use to fire up learning automation.
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