Fundamentals of Testing

Testing and Debugging are activities performed during Software Development and Maintenance. Both are essential in finding and removing bugs and are connected because debugging starts once the bug is found during Testing. However, Testing and Debugging are different from each other. Let's understand the difference between them:

Factor	Testing	Debugging
Process	Testing is the process of finding defects in the Software Product. During Testing, we do not fix defects; we only find them.	Debugging is the process of finding, analyzing, and resolving defects.
Objective	The main objective of Testing is to find the defect.	The main aim of Debugging is to fix the defect.
Code Access and Knowledge	You don't require application code-level access and knowledge for many testing techniques.	Debugging can not be completed without the knowledge and access to application code implementation.
Planning and Scheduling	Testing is generally performed after proper planning and scheduling.	There is no plan for debugging because it depends on bugs found, and bugs are fixed based on priority and severity. Debugging is not time-bound. Bug fixing can take longer depending on developers' knowledge and other related factors.
Automation	Testing can be manual or automated.	Debugging is always manual and done with the help of different debugger tools.
Dependency	Testing starts when the document, design, code, or environment is ready for the test.	Debugging starts when bugs are identified during Testing or code execution. After debugging confirmation or retesting is done.
Technique And Types	Testing is performed based on various testing techniques and types.	Debugging is performed based on the bugs type, error messages, logs, and debugger.
Who performs it	Different people in the organization perform various types of Testing. Apart from a group of test engineers, the developer performs unit testing, Business Analysts do acceptance testing, and the operations team test at the operations level.	Debugging is a development activity done by a developer or DevOps engineer. However, in Agile development and some other software development lifecycles, testers may be involved in debugging to analyze the bug by looking at API or server responses.