Smoke testing

Smoke testing is a type of software testing that focuses on verifying whether the most critical functions of a program are working properly after a new build or release. It is often referred to as "sanity testing" or "build verification testing." The primary goal of smoke testing is to determine whether the software build is stable enough to proceed with more detailed testing.

Key Characteristics of Smoke Testing:

1. Basic Functionality Check: Smoke tests check if the basic and core features of an application work. For example, in a login system, the smoke test would check if the user can successfully log in with valid credentials.

2. Preliminary Testing: It’s done at the beginning of the testing cycle to determine if the build is stable enough for further, more thorough testing.

3. Quick Execution: Smoke tests are usually a small subset of test cases, so they can be executed quickly to confirm the application's basic functionality.

4. Low Depth: It doesn't go into deep functional testing. It focuses on confirming that the system doesn’t have major issues that would prevent further testing.

5. Automated or Manual: Smoke tests can be either manual or automated, but automated smoke testing is preferred to save time in repeated cycles.