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Why Python is a great companion to Selenium test automation

Keerthika
Lead Marketing Strategist

An INFJ personality wielding brevity in speech and writing.

Selecting a programming language for test automation is probably one of the most difficult choices you’ll have to make. You must take many things into consideration like,  

  • What technologies are in demand?  
  • What technologies are the automation engineers in your company familiar with?  
  • What can your given project afford? 
  • How easy is it to set up your environment for automation and provide training to team members 

It is not that easy because there are so many options available for programming language, so it will take time.  This blog will help you understand why Python is a good companion for Selenium test automation. 

We’ve packed the details in a nugget-sized video. Click below to watch it 👇

Less Verbose & Easy to Read:

Python is one of the best programming languages when it comes to ease of coding and ease of reading. In comparison to other programming languages that can be used for Selenium test automation, Python contains less verbosity and is relatively easy to use.

Python has a simple syntax similar to the English language which allows you to concentrate on just how to solve problems instead of having to focus on complex syntax found in other languages like Java or C++.

APIs that realize Python test automation are used for connecting to the web browser through the Selenium automation framework. With this embedded option, you don’t need to download any external packages or drivers. The APIs can also be used with other test automation tools like HP UFT, IBM RFT, Ranorex etc., but they are more popular in the context of Selenium WebDriver automation testing.

Check out Selenium with Python: Tutorial on Test Automation

Exhaustive List Frameworks:

Python has a built-in unit test framework that can be used to write functional tests and perform automated testing. PyUnit is the default test framework in Python which helps in writing Selenium test cases for browser compatibility.

Apart from PyUnit, the Python language supports a number of frameworks for Selenium Testing. Some of these frameworks are: Robot Framework, Behave Framework, Lettuce Framework, and Splinter Framework. Very few programming languages offer such variety in automation test frameworks, thereby making Python the best scripting language for test automation

Super Easy ‘Parallel Testing’:

We can run multiple tests in parallel or concurrently with the help of Selenium Grid and Python. Selenium Grid is a smart proxy server that runs on a hub and node configuration. This enables us to scale our test suites, as we can run tests on different machines against different browsers in parallel. We can run tests on various combinations of browsers, operating systems, and devices. 

All programming languages support parallel testing with Selenium, but it is easy to use in Python. For example, we can run multiple tests simultaneously using Python’s threading library. 

Easy to Install Packages: 

PIP is the standard package management system in Python. Installing a new package using PIP does not require downloading the package. Instead, it relies on the PyPI (Python Package Index) repository for downloading and installing packages. 

Check out How To Install PIP to Manage Python Packages On Windows 

Multi-Paradigm Programming Language: 

The readability and implementation of test functions using Python are better since the framework does not put compulsion of adding test functions into classes. 

Unlike other programming languages, Python lets the test automation engineer decide whether classes or functions should be used for Selenium test automation. 

Powerful & Hassle-Free Reporting: 

Test Automation Reporting is one of the principal factors for Selenium test automation.  

Powerful reports that give the right information in a concise and understandable form, can be sent to stakeholders so that they are aware of the progress on the testing front. Report generation for Selenium tests can be done without much effort in PyTest. 

 PyTest Reports – The test reports are generated with each execution including details such as start time, end time, duration and status of each test case. An HTML-based report is also generated which gives a graphical representation of the results. 

 The reports are generated in pytest_report.html file in your working directory, which can be viewed easily by opening it in the browser. 

Learn pytest Report Generation For Selenium Automation Scripts 

In-built libraries: 

The beauty of using Python is that it has thousands of prebuilt libraries that can be imported and reused in your program as required. This makes it simpler and easier to write automation scripts since you don’t have to spend time writing those long codes with loops and Lists Comprehensions which are already available in Python libraries. 

Easy Integration With CI/CD tools: 

Since Jenkins is one of the most popular CI tools, it is easy to integrate with multiple other tools and frameworks. For example, it is easy to use Jenkins with PyTest, as the shift from the local environment to Jenkins involves minimal steps (i.e., project creation, adding command-line options for execution, etc.), making the switch super-simple! 

Looking to improve your test automation coverage? Take a look at Zuci’s test automation services and see how you can leverage Zuci for your business needs.

Check out How does Pytest integrate with Jenkins? 

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