I heard the terms “application-level testing” and “system-level testing”. I think I know the difference, but I am not sure. I tried to do some research on the internet, but the closest explanation of the difference that I can find is this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_testing#Unit_testing (unit testing and system level testing).
Does application-level testing mean the same as unit testing? This is not a homework question, I am just wondering if they are the same.
I am a student and still learning, I appreciate your help! Thanks.
1
I would say that those terms are not set in stone and thus tend to vary depending on who you ask. The only valid version is the version used by the organisation for which you work. Since you are a student that would mean just use whatever your teacher tell you is the definition, if you ever have to think about it in a course.
In my own organisation those term are not much used, and we (internally) use a variation of the test used by the “Growing Object Oriented Software” book (very recommanded read).
We have
- Unit test : a single part of your own code cut from every dependencies
- Integration test : same as unit test but for the code that must interact with an external component/library
- Functional end-to-end test : the whole application tested via the inputs/outputs
We simply don’t use at all the terms application testing and system testing.
So to get back to your question : don’t stress too much over the definition of those terms. To paraphrase what a software vendor once said “It means whatever the customer think it means”. If you ever work for an organization that use those terms, just use their definition.