Test

• In science, an experiment performed to verify the presence, the quality or the quantity of determined characteristics or elements in a specimen.
• Similarly, in software engineering, an experiment to determine some characteristic of a software system. See software testing.

Testing is the process of checking whether something is true or false, whether it is valid, or whether it is functional.

In software development, testing is usually required before release to the general public. In-house developers often test the software in what is known as 'alpha' testing which is often performed under a debugger or with hardware-assisted debugging to catch bugs quickly. It can then be handed over to quality assurance staff for additional testing in an environment simular to how it was intended to be used.

This is often known as the second stage of alpha testing. Following that, limited public tests known as beta-versions are often released to groups of people so that further testing can ensure the product has few faults or bugs.