What is Selenium? Why do we use selenium for Automation?

Selenium is a open-source tool that helps to automate web browsers for testing. It is free to use. It's used to test web applications like email programs and shopping carts across different browsers and platforms.
Selenium includes a suite of software that developers can use to automate web applications, including-

1. Selenium IDE
2. Selenium Remote Control
3. Selenium Grid
4. Selenium WebDriver

1. Selenium IDE-

Selenium IDE is part of the Selenium Test Suite and is easy to use, even for beginners. It doesn't require programming logic to write test scripts. Instead, users can record their interactions with the browser to create test cases.

a. IDE = Integrated Development Environment
b. It is just a web-browser extension
c. You need to download and install the extension for that particular web browser and start working with it.
d. It can automate as well as record the entire automation process
e. People generally do not use it rather they use the Selenium scripts for the same.

2. Selenium Remote Control

a. It is outdated technology
Do not used these days
b. It has been replaced by WebDriver, which is far more better and easy to use
c. It has been replaced by Selenium WebDriver

3. Selenium Grid

a. It is used to run parallel tests on multiple devices running different browsers at different geographical locations
b. We can run multiple test-cases simultaneously at one moment of time
c. It used the Hub-Node architecture or Master-Slave architecture

4. Selenium WebDriver

Selenium WebDriver is a web framework that allows users to run cross-browser tests. It's an open-source collection of APIs that automates web application testing. Selenium WebDriver helps testers ensure that a website works as intended on different browsers.

Use Of Selenium for Automation Testing-

1. Scalability-

Selenium allows for parallel test execution, which can significantly reduce the overall testing time.

2. Flexibility-

Selenium can help developers and testers make quick changes to the code, reducing duplication and improving maintainability.

1. It does support multiple browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer etc.

2. Selenium allows users to create test scripts in different programming languages, including Java, Python, C#, Ruby, and more.

3. It is free to use and open-source tool.