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Pawan Kumar, Lovely Professional University Unit 6: Compatibility Testing

Unit 6: Compatibility Testing

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
6.1 Compatibility Testing

6.1.1 Overview of Compatibility Testing
6.1.2 Backward and Forward Compatibility
6.1.3 Testing Multiple Versions
6.1.4 Standards and Guidelines
6.1.5 Data Sharing Compatibility
6.2 Summary
6.3 Keywords
6.4 Self Assessment

6.5 Review Questions
6.6 Further Readings
Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
• Describe compatibility testing
• Describe backward and forward compatibility
• Describe the standards and guidelines
Introduction

Any software product can be architecturally well-designed, perfectly coded, but unless it clears the
aspect of being able to function across the myriad computer system of target users, it will never be able
to fare well in the market.
Compatibility testing gives the developers the confidence of the application’s compatibility with the
computing environment. Compatibility testing gives clarity of the application’s ability to coexist with
other functions and how well it gels with other systems. It can be categorized as a software non-
functional test. Today, Compatibility testing is mandatorily carried out to all applications, since it is
used to detail the specification of the product, namely the different types of system hardware and
software that works with the system.
6.1 Compatibility Testing

Compatibility testing relates to testing the interactions between two different software, to make sure
that both the software work correctly. The need for compatibility testing is high today, because most of
the consumers demand data-sharing options with different types of software programs from various
vendors.
Earlier, most programs were developed as standalone applications and ran only in a known
environment setup. The reason was that the developers hesitated running the program on a different
environment fearing corruption of the program. However, today there is a need for most programs to
be compatible with different operating systems and Web browsers. In addition, these programs also

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