It is an open-source testing tool that uses a behavior-driven development (BDD) approach. It supports multiple programming languages.
Merits:
- Simplicity: Cucumber has a simple and easy-to-understand syntax for expressing test cases in natural language format. This makes it easier for non-technical team members to understand and collaborate on test automation.
- Reusability: Cucumber allows for the reusability of step definitions, which enables test cases to be easily maintained and updated.
- Collaboration: Cucumber provides a way for stakeholders to collaborate and contribute to the test automation effort, including product owners, developers, testers and business analysts.
- Cross-platform support: Cucumber supports multiple programming languages and platforms which makes it easier to implement it irrespective of the platform being targeted.
- Documentation: Cucumber test cases can be viewed as living documentation that describes the behavior of the system under test. This documentation can be generated automatically and kept up-to-date as the system evolves.
Demerits:
- Learning curve: Cucumber can have a steep learning curve for beginners, especially for those who are not familiar with Gherkin syntax.
- Setup and configuration: Setting up and configuring the tool requires some technical expertise and time.
- Maintenance overhead: Maintaining the Cucumber test automation suite can be complex and time-consuming as the system evolves and new features are added.
- Speed: The test execution speed of Cucumber is slower compared to some other automation tools due to its natural language-based syntax.
- Debugging: Debugging Cucumber test cases can be a difficult task for developers as the test code is written in natural language format and requires some additional knowledge to debug.
Overall, Cucumber can be a powerful tool for automated testing, provided it’s implemented and maintained correctly.