A sanity test or sanity check is a basic test to quickly evaluate whether a claim or the result of a calculation can possibly be true. The point of a sanity test is to rule out certain classes of obviously false results, not to catch every possible error. In arithmetic, for example, when multiplying by 9, using the divisibility rule for 9 to verify that the sum of digits of the result is divisible by 9 is a sanity test - it will not catch every multiplication error, however it's a quick and simple method to discover many possible errors.
In software development, the sanity test (a form of software testing which offers "quick, broad, and shallow testing"[ 1] ) determines whether it is reasonable to proceed with further testing.
Software sanity tests are commonly conflated with smoke tests . [ 2] A smoke test determines whether it is possible to continue testing, as opposed to whether it is reasonable [citation needed ] . A software smoke test determines whether the program launches and whether its interfaces are accessible and responsive (for example, the responsiveness of a web page or an input button). If the smoke test fails, it is impossible to conduct a sanity test. In contrast, the ideal sanity test exercises the smallest subset of application functions needed to determine whether the application logic is generally functional and correct (for example, an interest rate calculation for a financial application). If the sanity test fails, it is not reasonable to attempt more rigorous testing. Both sanity tests and smoke tests are ways to avoid wasting time and effort by quickly determining whether an application is too flawed to merit any rigorous testing. Many companies run sanity tests and unit tests on an automated build as part of their development process.[ 3]
Sanity testing（健全测试），软件主要功能成分的简单测试以保证它是否能进行基本的测试。