What is the goal of integration testing?

The goal of integration testing is to test the interactions among components. This phase of testing comes after unit testing, where individual modules of code are validated in isolation, and before system testing, where the complete system is evaluated. During integration testing, different components or systems are combined and tested as a group to identify defects in the interaction between those integrated units.

This is crucial because individual modules may work perfectly on their own but could fail when integrated due to issues such as miscommunication, data format incompatibilities, or improper sequencing of operations. Therefore, the primary focus is to ensure that these various components work together as intended, thus validating the combined functionality and performance of the integrated system. By successfully conducting integration testing, development teams can ensure that the entire system operates correctly and meets the expected requirements when different parts interact.