An Expert’s Manual to Functional Testing & Non-Functional Testing

Bethany Wilson
4 min readDec 30, 2021

Functional testing and non-functional testing are two of the most valuable forms of software testing. The entire functional requirements of the software product or application are taken care of by the software testing method. An application’s performance, usability etc. are taken care of by non-functional testing in its entirety. In this article, you will get a brief overview of functional testing and non-functional testing.

Functional testing:

What is functional testing?

It is a form of software testing that validates how a product functions. It makes sure that the software product that is being built is in accordance with specific business and system requirements. The software code does not need to be viewed with this testing type. It is also classified as Black box testing because the internal structure of the code is not focused upon, rather the software is analyzed from an end-to-end perspective.

The aim of this testing method is to ensure that the product and its features are working properly and can be executed smoothly.

The specific application of functional testing:

Every software function is focused upon and then a proper analysis is done as to how the program functions can be leveraged. Functional testing focuses on multiple factors such as security systems, user interface, APIs and also focuses on knowing how the application functions when the testing is being performed.

Functional testing can be conducted both manually and in an automated manner. An application’s main functions such as access to different tools, screens, the ease of use for a user to change interfaces and checking navigation are worked upon. Apart from that, functions that display error messages are checked by this testing method.

The three key factors of functional testing:

1. The objective: Only the specifics are focused upon in functional testing. Certain specifications are supplied by the software designer or client so that they can be verified against the system.

2. Performance criterion: Generally, non-functional testing is performed after functional testing. The general performance of a system is difficult to assess if the system’s specific functions are not working properly.

3. The consideration of testing tools: Depending upon the functional testing scenarios, both manual and automated testing tools can be used. But, it is considered that manual testing is a little bit easier to perform functional testing.

Non-functional testing:

What is non-functional testing?

The non-functional requirements of the application such as usability, performance are verified by the non-functional testing method. The behavior of the system is verified in accordance with the specific requirements. The security issues of the application and application performance are taken into consideration by the non-functional tests.

The purpose of non-functional testing:

The main purpose of this application is to make sure that the non-functional aspects of the application are working just fine. The characteristics of the application are thoroughly tested so that an application is provided that is in accordance with the business requirements.

Understanding the value of non-functional testing:

For suppose, a software application has been developed and all the functionalities of the application have been thoroughly tested, but, non-functional testing has not been conducted on the same.

When the same application goes live, major issues might crop up, such as increased load on the application, which, in turn, makes the application too slow and takes a lot of time to open.

There might be an increase in the response time or even when the load is increased to a specific extent, and then the chances are that the application will not perform at all. These scenarios clearly state the significance of implementing non-functional testing.

Conclusion: If you are looking forward to implementing software testing for your specific project, then do get connected with professionally acclaimed software testing services company that will provide you with a workable testing strategy in line with your project specific requirements.

About the author: I am a technical content writer focused on writing technology specific articles. I strive to provide well-researched information on the leading market savvy technologies.

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Bethany Wilson

Hi, this is Bethany. I’m working as Senior Software QA Tester with TestingXperts.