What is Monkey & Gorilla Testing? Examples, Difference

A test monkey is an automated that simulates a monkey that tests the application in random fashion. It’s very difficult and time consuming to analyse the unexpected issues found during the monkey testing. The end user who uses any application or software is not expected to have the functional knowledge of the same. So by this testing, we can ensure the fulfillment of the needs of the user and decrease the probability of the awful breakdown of the software and system. This application is quite different from the MonkeyRunner tool, which controls the android device from exterior to the android code while U/I Application exerciser monkey runs inside the emulator. The deep-rooted randomness can sometimes save the system from complete breakdown by identifying the major bugs.

A dog bred for research is still a dog who could otherwise live a happy life in a loving home. While no particular lifecycle is required for smoke tests, perhaps the most common context today is a CI/CD pipeline, such as seen in DevOps or agile. If we were to substitute smoke for water in this analogy, you have the essence of smoke testing. It’s a cheap, quick and easy way to at least find the leaks – even if you would not be able to assess the other aspects of the plumbing system. In this analogy, the pipes represent the functional process being tested. And, the faucets represent the controls often seen in systems to select or restrict certain functions.

definition of monkey testing

They invest in other forms of testing which give better results and return on investment. Once the tool is executed, it observes the behavior of the application and reports the output. Monkey testing helps us understand how the application’s behavior when given to a user with no idea how to use it. Monkey testing is executed in certain areas of the software where the errors are not identified at regular intervals. Our investigations show time and time again that, despite claims by the animal research community, life inside a laboratory is no life at all.

Monkey Testing Features

Not every user uses the application in the way it’s intended, they might bombard the system with inputs when they don’t get the expected results. Thus the tester has to verify the application from a user’s perspective. Monkey testing helps us prevent such scenarios where the system might break due to unexpected inputs. This tool generates pseudo-random streams of user events such as clicks, touches, or gestures for an emulator or android device. Here we can use this tool to execute monkey testing in a random yet repeatable manner. In monkey testing, when the tester has a deep understanding of the workflow of the software, it is known as smart monkey testing.

If we are performing load and stress testing, Monkey testing works very well, or we can it is a very good approach. This application is suitable to run on the device or the emulator. It automatically runs a stream of auto-generated tests like touches, clicks, or gestures. Their only focus is to break the application thus are not aware of any start or end point of the whole process. On top of this they are also unknown to the UI and functionality of the software.

definition of monkey testing

New bugs can be identified during the monkey tests; they would not have been discovered throughout the traditional testing. As we know, the gorilla testing is pre-planned whereas the monkey testing is very much Adhoc in nature, and as compared to gorilla testing, we must be muddled many times. In this, the test engineer or a team of test engineers is assigned for the task, as they have complete knowledge about the particular software domain and its features. This type of testing can also identify some bugs, which might be found in the software in the future. In other words, we can say that the dumb monkey does not aware of the work flow or data being sustained to the application or the system. Subsequently, Monkey Testing includes testing the software or application by giving some random data and detecting whether the system fails or not.

Knowledge Center

This testing is adopted to complete the testing, in particular if there is a resource/time crunch. As the scenarios that are tested are adhoc, system might be under stress so that we can also check for the server responses. Monkey testing evidently, has differences with regard to the working of a monkey as it can completely analyze the function and will not do anything improper or irrelevant with the system. The tester can also control and access to the Android device by using an application program interface provided by the tool. The cost-effectiveness makes this software more advantageous than others. In an unintended way, it also allows the domain tester to judge the response of the program.

Moreover, the tests are executed using the random inputs, after which the results are recorded and compared against the expected outcomes. This form of testing, the test inputs are randomly generated according to an operational profile and failure times are recorded. The data that is generated https://globalcloudteam.com/ or obtained from random testing can then be further used to estimate products reliability. Other testing methods cannot be used in this way to estimate software reliability. Monkey testing is a software testing technique in which the testing is performed on the system under test randomly.

  • Monkey testing can be used for database testing by beginning a transaction and inserting some random data.
  • In a CI flow, this is an automated process to keep pace with daily or even more frequent builds.
  • MonkeyRunner tool is used for performing monkey testing on an Android application.
  • They are aware of the test inputs and know where the webpages will lead the application to.
  • There are other certainly other ways to perform smoke tests and other contexts in which smoke testing may be applicable.
  • Monkey testing is a software testing approach in which the administrator delivers some arbitrary inputs to the software in order to analyze its behavior.
  • Test case coverage can’t be guaranteed as it is done so randomly.

Brilliant monkey testing technique an extension of the smart monkey testing. However, smoke tests can be performed in many contexts, including traditional waterfall life cycles. In traditional life cycles, smoke tests are typically performed as a preliminary integration test. In a traditional development context, builds may not be defined as such.

Benefits and Drawbacks of Monkey Testing

That is why dumb monkey testing is also known as Ignorant monkeys. It is a software testing technique where the user checks the application by giving random inputs; that’s why it is also known as Random testing. Unlike other testing techniques, monkey testing does not follow any particular pattern or test cases. Thus it is very less time-consuming and we can find critical bugs without following a predefined set of scenarios. A huge drawback here is that it doesn’t guarantee that this technique can identify all the bugs but it aims to test the application using all possible inputs. Smoke testing in the practice of software development and software testing has become a commonly used technique for the early and continuous detection of software defects.

definition of monkey testing

Some others believe that the name comes from the classic Mac OS application “The Monkey” developed by Steve Capps prior to 1983. It used journaling hooks to feed random events into Mac programs, and was used to test for bugs in MacPaint. One can easily identify bugs with the assistance of this testing, which may have higher impact on the software’s effectiveness and performance. Smart monkeys can help find unique bugs if set up with proper and accurate state model, quickly.

In computer science, a Monkey test is a unit test that runs with no specific test in mind. The test monkey is technically known to conduct stochastic testing, which is in the category of black-box testing. It can be time-consuming to get those random inputs, execute cases for a small set of bugs that might not be even relevant. Monkey testing completely focuses on crashing the system by hitting random inputs, so the testing team can guarantee the robustness of the product. In Gorilla testing, each module of the application is taken one at a time and a range of valid and invalid inputs are entered to verify those modules.

Testing Tool Example

There are many ways that smoke testing can be applied in software applications and systems. In this article, we explore some interesting history of how the term “smoke testing” originated, and then use that history as an analogy for finding defects in software and systems. We also show examples of how smoke testing can be designed and performed in a variety of contexts. Monkey testing is performed by providing unexpected actions or random inputs in the software application to verify behavior and identify any errors.

Unlike other forms of testing, this type of testing doesn’t require any test cases to execute. In monkey testing, when the tester has no knowledge about the software or features, functionalities, behavior and starts testing the application randomly, it’s called the Dumb monkey testing technique. Even those test engineers do not have any idea whether the given inputs are valid or invalid.

To perform any kind of automated testing using appropriate tools is a must. Following are some of the softwares that are helpful during monkey testing. Monkey testing is an automated test that is performed without regard for any specifications. The primary goal of the test is to identify mistakes and flaws in the program in order to assure the product’s entire development. We can use monkey testing to analyze the scenarios in which the customer might use the application.

Monkey testing is a software testing technique in which the operator provides the software with some random inputs in order to analyze the behavior of the software. Random testing which is commonly known as Monkey testing, is defined as a testing that deal with random inputs and data. In this process of testing, the random inputs are identified to be evaluated against the system and the tests are selected independently from the test domain.

definition of monkey testing

The scenarios covered under monkey testing are ad hoc, the testers can test the server response time along with it. New bugs can be discovered through definition of monkey testing monkey tests which would have not been found during traditional testing. The tester usually has no idea whether given inputs are valid or invalid.

Is Monkey Testing same as Gorilla Testing and Fuzz Testing?

It also finds out whether the system or application will work properly under such conditions or crash. The testing is usually used by the tester at the beginner’s level. In this testing, there is no predefined strategy or algorithm and hence the testing works on tester’s gut and mood.

Paying for Testing

It is trendy among test engineers as they used this testing to test applications by providing random inputs and checking their behavior. Brilliant Monkey – These types of testers have a very good idea of the application. They can also test the application based on the user’s perspective.

Types of monkey testing

In addition, we can also apply the concept of smoke testing to basic functional tests. We can see immediately in both of these definitions that smoke testing is typically not achieved in a single test case, but rather in a collection of tests. This collection of tests may vary in number, depending on the item being tested, but the goal remains the same – to find basic defects early before other work occurs on the item. However, smoke tests can be performed in other contexts than Continuous Integration, such as traditional integration testing.

So Macwrite and MacPaint used buffers those were quite larger than the size of the screen of the desktop. So it became essential to create some testing method that acquired lesser memory. This testing works well in case of androids, desktops, web and other mobile applications. This testing is done when the tester is the time deficit in order to write and execute the function.