Software Testing & Software Quality

Automated Acceptance Tests and Requirements Traceability

2011-11-07T11:03:00.000+01:00

This article on Automated Acceptance Tests illustrates an approach to automated acceptance testing when you develop software with Java. The acceptance tests are connected to the software requirements. The main factor to achieve maintainable tests is to manage correctly the traceability between the requirements and implementation as well as between the requirements and acceptance tests.

http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=118

Mocking Frameworks in .NET Introduction

2011-10-31T19:07:00.000+01:00

There are several open source unit testing tools to apply mocking principles in .NET. Tools like Rhino Mocks, Automoq and Moq allow us to create mocks and stubs within our test method. These tools have a learning curve, but the video ".NET Mocking Frameworks" presents techniques that can ease you into these frameworks and help you automated your unit testing process.

Scenarios for Load Testing

2011-09-08T23:14:00.000+02:00

This article explains how to build a portfolio of scenarios for software load testing automation. You have rarely only a single scenario to test, so you have to decide which scenarios to include in your test plans. Criticality, frequency, difficulty and verifiability are the four key factors that should be considered to determine the scenarios to automate. Choosing the right scenarios is an essential key factor to ensure the success of your load testing automation strategy.

Software Test Engineer, Microsoft , Minneapolis, MN

2011-08-18T15:15:00.002+02:00

Are you passionate about user experience? Would you like to impact the tools people will use to build rich user experiences on top of some of the coolest technologies in the company? Do you have a vision of where Test needs to be in 5-10 years and the drive to help us get there? If so, a position on the Expression Blend TCDC (Twin Cities Development Center) team might be for you.

The Expression organization delivers products to create great, highly interactive user experiences on Microsoft’s platforms. We are a fast-paced, focused group, located in St.Paul, Minnesota that works directly with the Redmond team to deliver products both for developers and for the professional design community. We have already made major contributions to the highly regarded Expression test stack and are looking to push the envelope even further.

Our team’s charter is to deliver a rich user experience for building highly interactive, modern applications from prototyping stage to final publication. Like any start-up, we need flexible people that are comfortable working in a very dynamic and agile environment.

To get more informations and to apply visit http://www.softdevjobs.com/job/software-test-engineer-sdet-ii-minneapolis-mn-microsoft-27d004b056/

The Art of Mocking

2011-08-13T20:41:00.000+02:00

This article "The Art of Mocking" covers the subject of software testing mocks (also known as test doubles, stubs and fakes, amongst other names). It compares also the creation manual mocks with the usage of a full-fledged mocking framework with examples in the .NET language.

Read it on http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=122

Selenium - Automated WebTesting

2011-07-26T21:22:00.000+02:00

Selenium is a popular tool for writing automated tests of web applications. You can develop automated tests in the programming language of your choice such as c#, java, python, php, perl and ruby as well as running those tests on different combination of browsers such as Chrome, Firefox or IE.

http://www.methodsandtools.com/tools/tools.php?selenium

Unit Testing and Mocking Tools Directory

2011-04-21T21:30:00.000+02:00

The Unit Testing and Mocking Tools Directory presents a list of unit testing and mocking tools for C/C++, Java, Javascript, .NET, PHP, Python, Ruby, Flex, etc.

http://www.unittestingtools.com/

Java Software Quality Analysis

2011-02-21T08:26:00.000+01:00

This is an interesting report on Java Software Quality Analysis where Java quality analysis tools ( Coverity, Headway Software, Parasoft, Sonar and XDepend) analyze the same open source project.

http://blog.martinig.ch/conferences/quality-analysis-evening-with-the-java-user-group-lausanne/

SoapUI - Web Testing Framework

2011-02-01T12:38:00.002+01:00

SoapUI is an open source application and framework to test web applications and web services. Test cases can be entered using a graphical user interface and they can be executed using the graphical user interface or embedded in Apache Ant or Apache Maven.

Load Testing Tools Adoption Survey

2011-02-01T12:23:00.000+01:00

The last Methods & Tools survey wanted to determine the level of adoption of load testing tools in organizations. It asked the following question: “Do you use a tool for load / performance testing?”

I use tools for load testing	48%
My organization has tools, but my project or I do not use them	20%
My organization has no tools for load testing	32%

Participants: 182
Ending date: January 2011
Source: Methods & Tools Load Testing Tools Survey

Additional resources:
* JMeter presentation
* Load Testing Section of the Software Development Articles Directory
* Load Testing Section of the Software Development Tools Directory
* Load testing tools directory

Bromine - Test Management for Selenium

2010-10-11T09:10:00.001+02:00

I have found an interesting presentation of the Bromine software testing tool. Bromine can be described as an open source management tool for Selenium. It offers is a way to organize your test scripts and easily run them in different browsers and operating systems.

Junit Java Unit Testing Tool Presentation

2010-10-05T09:22:00.003+02:00

Methods & Tools, a free software development magazine available on the web, has published a presentation of JUnit. JUnit is a Java library for unit testing, which has advanced to the de-facto standard in unit testing. By using JUnit, you can assert that methods in your Java code work as designed, without the need to set up the complete application.

Continuous Integration: Continuous Build or Continuous Quality Control?

2010-09-14T16:26:00.000+02:00

The last Methods & Tools poll wanted to determine the level of adoption of continuous integration tools in organizations. The following question was asked: “Do you use a tool for continuous integration (automated build and unit testing)?”

I use tools for continuous integration	66%
My organization has tools, but my project or I do not use them	13%
My organization has no tools for continuous integration	21%

Participants: 130
Ending date: September 2010
Source: Methods & Tools Continuous Integration Tools Survey

A large majority of the participants is using continuous integration tools, but it remains to see how continuous is the continuous integration used by participants. It is easy to understand that this practice is one of the easiest to put in place as it is basically a pure technical issue of combining the build process with the unit testing tools. However, previous Methods & Tools unit testing execution surveys performed in 2006 and 2008 on showed that between 50% and 60% of participants were not using unit tests or were doing them in an informal way. Continuous integration could thus be considered by organizations more as a continuous build process that a continuous testing of the code quality.

Resources:

* Continuous Integration Feature Matrix
* Continuous Integration: The Cornerstone of a Great Shop
* Continuous Integration Tools directory

JMeter Load Testing Tool Presentation

2010-08-29T05:18:00.002+02:00

An interesting presentation of the load testing tool JMeter has been published by the software development magazine Methods & Tools. Apache JMeter is open source software, a 100% pure Java desktop application designed to (load) test functional behavior and measure performance. It was originally designed for testing Web Applications but has since expanded to other test functions.

GWT Testing Best Practices

2010-08-13T07:55:00.000+02:00

GWT has a lot of little-publicized infrastructure that can help you build apps The Right Way: test-driven development, code coverage, comprehensive unit tests, and integration testing using Selenium or WebDriver. This GWT Testing Best Practices session will survey GWT’s testing infrastructure, describe some best practices we’ve developed at Google, and help you avoid common pitfalls.

Contract Tests in JUnit 4

2010-05-28T14:35:00.001+02:00

J.B. Rainsberger talked about how contract tests can be used to test the interaction between classes when using a mockist approach to developer testing. He wondered aloud if it would be possible to write these kinds of tests using abstract classes and JUnit 4. The answer is yes, with some caveats, as Ben Rady demonstrates it. You can watch this presentation called "Contract Tests in JUnit 4" on the directory of Java videos and tutorials.

Load Testing Tools Directory

2010-04-29T09:12:00.002+02:00

This a directory of open source and commercial software tools for load and performance testing with reviews and resources.

Writing Testable Code

2010-04-26T16:50:00.000+02:00

This article presents practices to write more testable code with many examples in java.

http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=103

Website Stress Testing using JMeter

2010-04-21T21:16:00.001+02:00

This video shows you how to use JMeter to stress test your website or web application. You can watch the video called "Website Stress Testing using JMeter" on the software testing videos and tutorials directory.

Automated Exploratory Testing

2010-03-30T14:22:00.000+02:00

Automated exploratory testing is a method integrating Test Automation within the Exploratory Testing Session that enables the testers to save money and to become more productive during test execution. This article describes automated exploratory testing and explains its benefits.

http://www.sqazone.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=606

Using WatiN to Leverage Common Elements in Web Testing

2010-03-29T12:33:00.001+02:00

WatiN is an easy to use, feature rich framework for Web Application Testing in .Net. This article provides some practical insight into creating automation based on the WatiN framework. It will present a well thought out and proven foundation for general web testing.

http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=100

Continuous Integration Tools Directory

2010-03-10T15:38:00.000+01:00

A directory of open source and commercial continuous integration tools with additional reviews and resources.

http://www.continuousintegrationtools.com/

Book Review: Debug It!

2010-02-17T12:47:00.000+01:00

This book provides a structured approach that will help programmers to identify and remove bugs in code. It is based on a four steps process: Reproduce, Diagnose, Fix, Reflect. For each activity, the author provides practical material on how perform it. The second part gives a higher vision of the debugging process and deal with topics like communicating with users or prioritizing bugs treatment. Finally, the book discusses special situations and the relationship between bugs and other areas of software development (source control, build, etc.).

The book is easy to read and the material is presented in a very structured way with different “viewpoints” that help to understand the content. Besides the main text where important concepts are put in evidence, real life cases shows how things happen in the real world. There are also some “Joe asks…” sections where the author answer pertinent questions on the current topic.

With my many years of experience in supporting and debugging large existing enterprise systems, I have to say that Paul Butcher summarize and structure all the knowledge (and more) that I have, sometimes painfully, accumulated during this activity. This is therefore an excellent book that I will recommend to everybody that is involved in software development in general and maintenance activities specifically.

Reference: “Debug It!”, Paul Butcher, Pragmatic Bookshelf, 214 pages, ISBN 978-1934356289

Get more details on this book or buy it on amazon.com
Get more details on this book or buy it on amazon.co.uk

Web Performance Testing - Test objectives and Real Life Monitoring

2010-01-26T16:41:00.000+01:00

Web Performance Testing is executed to provide accurate information on the readiness of an application through testing the web site and monitoring the server side application. This article describes different techniques and aspects to be considered when performing Performance Testing on Web Applications.

http://www.sqazone.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=551

New Software Testing and Quality Assurance Videos and Tutorials Directory

2009-11-30T10:34:00.000+01:00

Testing TV is a directory of software testing and software quality assurance videos and tutorials. It covers unit testing, functional testing, load testing, performance testing, test driven development. configuration management.

Functional Test Tools: Adopted but not Used?

2009-09-01T19:10:00.000+02:00

A recent Methods & Tools poll tried to evaluate the usage of tools to automate execution of functional software tests. A similar poll was conducted in 2005.

My organisation has no tool for functional software tests.......37% (38%)
My organisation has tools, but my project or I do not use them..19% (26%)
I use tools for functional tests................................44% (36%)

Source: Methods & Tools
Particpants: 268 (147)
End date: August 2009 (August 2005)

There is an improvement of tool usage since 2005, but the results seem still to show an ambiguous situation to me: 63 % of companies have functional software tools, but 56% of participants don't use any tool for functional testing.

How To Recruit, Motivate, and Energize Superior Test Engineers

2009-07-17T16:33:00.001+02:00

This video is an interesting presentation with eight points explaining why test is a better place for software developers than software development and showing how and when to express these points to hire, motivate and retain top talent.

Implementing Automated Testing by Elfriede Dustin, Thom Garrett & Bernie Gauf

2009-06-10T18:51:00.001+02:00

This book presents a comprehensive treatement of the domain of software testing automation. The first part defines and describes test automation, proposing a business case for automation and discussing the pitfalls that should be avoided. The second part is a roadmap for test automation. It gives six keys for software testing automation payoff:
1. Know your requriments
2. Develop a strategy
3. Test your tools
4. Track progress and adjust
5. Implement the process
6. Put the right people in the process.
Four appendixes complete the book. They provide a process checklist, explain how automation applies to various testing types, disscuss tools evaluation and give a case study.

The fact that the autors have worked with the Defence industry might have affected the way the book was conceived and written: with structure and rigor. The discussions, recommandations, references and tools suggestions apply however to every software testing situation and not only to organization that are strongly process oriented. The aim of the book is to be a guide that can help to implement successfully automated software testing and it certainly achieve its objective.

Reference: “Implementing Automated Testing”, Elfriede Dustin, Thom Garrett & Bernie Gauf, Addison Wesley.

Get more details on this book or buy it on amazon.com
Get more details on this book or buy it on amazon.co.uk

Applying User Testing During Development

2009-06-10T18:43:00.000+02:00

This presentation focus on the relationship between Production, Game Design, and User Research (Usability). What it takes to prepare game builds for User Research, what the goals are for the usability test, and what Production and Design do with the results. Halo3 will serve as the primary example.

Don’t Mock Yourself Out

2009-06-05T18:42:00.001+02:00

An interesting video on mocking. Used appropriately, mock objects are a powerful design tool that can lead to highly maintainable applications.

http://www.testingtv.com/2009/05/28/dont-mock-yourself-out/

Agile Testing by Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory

2009-05-25T10:17:00.000+02:00

Some authors are good at presenting theories but unable to connect them to practice. Other are good at telling stories from the trenches, but without being able to produce an analysis of the situation and propose some solutions. On the less examined domain of agile testing, Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory are, luckily for us, presenting a book that covers both the personal experience of being a tester in agile projects and a conceptual vision of the place of quality assurance in software projects. Thus you will find in this book “stories” that comes from past projects and “mind maps” that helps to have a high-level vision of the material of each chapter.

The book offers resource to organize the quality assurance and testing activities in an agile project. It explains also the relationship between test automation and agility. It provides also a part dedicated to the chronicle of the agile testing activities during project life, showing how every member of the team could contribute to quality.

I think however that the more interesting contribution of the book is Testing Quadrants. This concept classifies testing activities depending on their focus (technology or business) and their intent (supporting the team or validating the product). Adding an agile perspective to the original work of Brian Marick, the authors provide resources and examples for each quadrant to make sure that you will cover all the aspects of testing for your project.

This book is certainly a very valuable resource for every people involved in software testing, even if this is not in an agile project. It will also be valuable for ScrumMasters and project managers that have to think on how to integrate the testing activities in their projects.

Click here to get more details on this book or buy it on amazon.com

Click here to get more details on this book or buy it on amazon.co.uk

Removing Duplication in Unit Tests

2009-04-30T21:24:00.000+02:00

This article shows how to remove duplication from unit tests.

http://www.sqazone.net/modules/news/article.php?storyid=396

Software Quality Assurance Planet

2009-04-17T07:31:00.000+02:00

The Software Quality Assurance Planet is an aggregator for RSS feeds concerning software testing (unit testing, functional testing, regression testing, load testing), code review and inspection, bug and defect tracking, continuous integration.

What is an Agile Tester?

2009-04-03T16:27:00.001+02:00

Here is a good definition of the Agile Tester, from the book “Agile Testing” of Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory: “We define an agile tester this way: a professional tester who embraces change, collaborates well with both technical and business people, and understands the concept of using tests to document requirements and drive development. Agile testers tend to have good technical skills, know how to collaborate with others to automate tests, and are also experienced exploratory testers. They’re willing to learn what customers do so that they can better understand the customers’ software requirements.”

Source: “Agile Testing”, Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory, Addison-Wesley, 2009

Software Quality Assurance Zone

2009-03-31T08:10:00.000+02:00

The Software Quality Assurance Zone is a repository for resources concerning software testing (unit testing, functional testing, regression testing, load testing), code review and inspection, bug and defect tracking, continuous integration. The content consists of articles, news, press releases, quotations, books reviews and links to articles, Web sites, tools, blogs, conferences and other elements concerning software quality assurance.