No doubt At present, automation testing is on-trend and replacing the traditional Manual Testing practices within software organisations.
Starting from medium-sized companies to software tech giants, all have already implemented this modern way of testing cycle into their software development process. Compared to manual testing, it is more efficient and performs better with a low operational cost. It is the reason behind gaining its popularity with software companies.
Automation testing is a functional technique for testing applications. It is the process of executing a test on a program and recording the results. Once the application is over, automation testing is performed on top of it to determine whether unexpected actions can be avoided or discovered. It enables the software development team to mock up the existing logic in their target system (where automation tests are applied) and test their code before deploying it in production.
The use of computing power, automation and databases help to reach stability & high quality in software projects.
Automation testing checks the reliability and correctness of applications that need different programming languages. All programming languages have a peculiarity, and one should be aware of them before starting automation testing.
Are you building your career in automation testing with a single programming language?
If so, then it’s high time for you to start learning other programming languages. As a software tester, you should have a proper understanding of other languages used in software automation testing. There are several programming languages used for automation testing, but only a few are frequently used.
Let’s know about these top programming languages that are most suitable for automating software test cases.
This blog will help you figure out six such programming languages you should start learning as you get started with Automation Testing.
Let’s know in brief about these six programming languages for automation testing.
#1- Python:
Python comes at the top of our list of programming languages for automation testing. It is the most popular free open-source programming language for automation testing. It’s been used in creating web and desktop applications, game development, machine learning, data visualisation, network servers, and many more.
Python is the most recommended programming language for any business getting started.
As compared to other programming languages used in automation testing, the learning curve in Python is easy due to its language readability. Moreover, it’s more portable and has several libraries that make the job of the developer easy as they help in performing actions without writing new code repeatedly for every task. However, they need to have an idea to implement the codes in the right section to make the test script run successfully. Additionally, it has a healthy, active and supportive community.
Selenium and Appium testing libraries for Python make the job of automation testing and cross-browser testing on desktop and mobile devices easy.
To date, nearly 2.5 million websites have accepted the Python framework globally.PyTest, PyUnit, Testify, and Nose2 are some of the popular testing frameworks that are used for selenium automation testing.
#2- Java:
Java comes next to our list of programming languages for automation testing. It is in top priority for organisations planning to create job opportunities in the field of automation testing.
It’s a general-purpose programming language owned by the Oracle Corporation and is mostly preferred by software tech giants for automation.
As per a report, more than three billion devices are based on Java applications.
Several organisations use this programming language to maintain their back-end systems. It is one of the popular automated programming languages used in the IT industry as it has plenty of readily available frameworks, plugins, APIs and libraries. Around 77% of selenium testers use Java which makes knowledge sharing easier and quick.
It makes use of a Java virtual machine(JVM) that enables computers to run Java programs along with programs written in other languages that are also compiled to Java bytecode. Additionally, Java is statically typed, and its IDE gives feedback to testers that they might face while coding.
If you are stepping into your career in test automation, it becomes the most essential for you to learn this programming language to run proficient test scripts.
#3- C#:
The Microsoft-created C# is also a trending programming language for automation testing. C# is designed on the concept of object-oriented programming and is one of the popular languages using the .NET framework.
As per a survey report by Stack Overflow Developer(2022), 63.39% of all respondents consider C# to be the most loved programming language for test automation, web development, and more.
This programming language for automation testing is convenient for applications based on Windows, Android, and iOS platforms.
Day by day it is gaining popularity in the space of test automation. Many software testers love to use C# for automation testing and cross-browser testing, due to its compatibility with Selenium WebDriver. Testers can come up with an efficient and maintainable test code by using page object model(POM) design patterns.
Apart, there is no point in confusion while creating test scripts with C# as it can efficiently handle all the limitations remaining in the business modules with much effectiveness.
There is a wide range of automation testing frameworks available in C#, that help in Selenium testing and automated browser testing. This is the reason behind, the software tester considering C# for the development of test cases related to cross-browser testing. Some of the most used test automation frameworks in C# are NUnit, MSTest, and xUnit.Net.
#4- JavaScript:
Our list of programming languages used for automation testing will look incomplete without including JavaScript. It’s a great programming language for automation testing mostly used for front-end development. As per a survey report by Stack Overflow Developer(2022), 73.46% of all respondents consider JavaScript to be the most loved programming language for test automation, web development, and more. There are several web applications like Instagram, Airbnb and Slack that support libraries written through JavaScript automation like ATOM, Botkit, and Mavericks.
Apart from front-end development, it is quite popular for automation testing. There are several testing frameworks like Zest, Jasmine, and Nightwatch JS which filter different processes of unit testing including end-to-end testing.
The primary reason behind its popularity in test automation is that the developers can build strong web applications majorly focusing on the core logic of businesses and quickly resolving security-related concerns that may occur at any point in time. As a result, the team working on automation testing doesn’t get pressure as the debugging time and other code glitches are reduced and the productivity gets increased with the shift-left testing approach. This approach is most important in the development process as the testing team works closely with the development team.
Developers even prefer to use JavaScript with Selenium for test scenarios related to automated browser testing. Along with that, it is used with remote Selenium Grid like LambdaTest without major changes in the source code.
Some of the widely used JavaScript test automation frameworks are Jest, Mocha, Nightwatch JS and Jasmine.
#5- PHP:
PHP is one of the popular open-source programming languages commonly used for server-side development. It is even used as a programming language for automation testing.
PHP is a widely used automation programming language used by over 34 million websites. Popular global websites like Facebook, Yahoo, Tumbler, and more are using PHP.
As per a survey report by Stack Overflow Developer(2022), 41.61% of, all respondents consider PHP to be the most loved programming language for test automation, web development, and more.
As compared to other programming languages like Python and Java the learning curve is easy and simple. It has a good community and a growing ecosystem. And it offers XDebug, which is a powerful debugging and profiling tool having powerful capabilities.
Similar to other programming languages for automation testing, PHP is even used in the Selenium framework. Some of the most used PHP frameworks for automation testing are PHPUnit, Codeception, Behat, PHPspec and others.
#6- Ruby:
Ruby is another programming language for automation testing that is on trend in the space of automation testing and automated browser testing. It is an MVC Architecture-enabled programming language that is focused on simplicity and productivity.
Like Python programming language, the learning curve for Ruby is easy to learn and implement. Additionally, it has a user-friendly syntax and flexible object-oriented architecture. The best part of the programming language is it has excellent support from the growing community of Ruby users. It is steadily becoming a preferred programming language among developers for the creation of web applications as they can build useful applications without using much code.
This programming language can potentially create an appropriate working environment for Selenium Automation Testers so that they can implement cross-border testing and its connected processes by writing fewer Lines Of Code.
There are several automation frameworks used in Ruby that help in cross-browser testing. Some of the most popular frameworks used for testing Ruby applications are RSpec, Cucumber, Minitest and Test::Unit.
Conclusion:
Each of the above Programming languages for automation testing has its pros and cons. However, it is ultimately up to your requirements which one you choose to use. Therefore, it is advisable to try out as many of them as possible before tracing down a particular language with which you are comfortable enough to develop highly effective Automation Scripts.
No doubt many more programming languages can be used but we have to keep in mind that some programmers specialise in a specific language so this list can serve as a starting point for those who are looking to learn new languages and start their journey toward automation testing.
As a boutique software development company, Gloify deals with software automation testing. If your organisation needs any assistance with automation testing, then our experts can guide you in a better way that can increase your organisation’s productivity.