Tech Bytes

Tech Bytes moved to Venkat's Blog

2009-09-20T01:16:00.003+05:30

I have started this blog with the objective of sharing the current trends in software development way back in 2005 and been updating with some interesting tools, topics that i have come across. I have been blogging on Software Testing here. I have been off from blogging for quite some time. I am in the process of coming back to mainstream blogging. All my blogs will be consolidated into one blog here Venkat's Blog with the objective of exploring the craft of Software Testing & Development.

Testuff - The Test Management Tool for small & medium projects

2008-07-01T06:22:00.001+05:30

Almost an year ago, I have evaluated some low cost and open source Test Management Tools. Managing the Test Efforts & Test documentation is always an issue for small and medium companies.

The following were my requirements for Test Management Tool

Capture the Requirements
Design & Prepare Test Cases
Map Test Cases with Requirements
Link Bug reports with Test Case ID after the test execution
Test Execution Reports
Version Management for the Test Cases
Search Feature

Testuff comes with all the above features and some additional capabilities to record the test execution and link them with the issue tracker. It comes free for single user.

Testuff Features

Test video recording
Really good testers don't follow the pre-written testing scenarios to the letter. They explore the program using their intuition, their experience and their common sense. They look under the rug, between the cracks and behind the closet. They find more bugs. But those bugs are much harder to reproduce. Or at least they were, until now.

Video recording meets software testing
Everything you see on the screen is recorded.
Every test is completely documented.
Every bug is reproducible.
And best of all, the communication between testers and developers no longer depend on their (sometimes limited) communication skills!

On-demand test management

You don't have to struggle with the shortcomings of Excel or spend thousands of dollars on an "Enterprise Test Management Solution".

Pay less

On-demand services usually cost much less than the equivalent software products. Testuff is no exception. Even better, for the duration of the beta trials Testuff is completely free of charge

Get more

Most modern software services create web-based user interfaces and try to make them look as close to desktop applications as possible. We've taken this trend a step further and created a real desktop application with a web backend. This way you get both a great user experience and the ability to work with people on the other side of the globe accessing the same test data.

Start right away

You have enough on your hands without going through complex install and maintenance procedures for the tools your use. Just download our desktop client and start improving your software right now.

Bug tracker integration
You are using a bug tracker, right? We have no intention of convincing you to change the way you manage your bugs as long as it isn't a simple text file or scraps of paper scattered on your desk. We can connect to anything else. Almost.
Testuff comes with built-in support for many bug trackers (in alphabetic order):
Bugzilla
Elementool
FogBugz
Jira
Lighthouse
Mantis
Trac

We are working to include support for even more bug trackers. Your favorite isn't listed? Let us know!

Privacy and Security
We know the confidentiality, integrity and availability of your data are extremely important to you. We have gone to great lengths to give you peace of mind.
All client-server communication is encrypted with SSL to protect your information. The credentials are verified upon each request made by the client to prevent impersonation and information theft.
Passwords are not stored in the database; instead, only secure hashes are used. Even the company DBA's have no way of knowing your password. That is why when you forget your password, we generate a new one for you - we simply don't know what the old one was.
All the data on our servers is encrypted to provide an extra layer of security on top of all the other measures.
Each company's data is stored separately from the rest to ensure that other users of Testuff can't access your information.

We also realize that losing your tests and bugs means losing money and are doing all we can to make sure your bits are safe with us.
We continuously backup the servers to prevent any data loss. We store copies of the backups off-site and are able to get the service back online quickly in case of a disaster.
We monitor our servers 24 hours a day and promptly respond to any failures.
You can export your data any time you like and save a copy under your bed.

Software Quality and Testing Podcasts

2008-06-08T13:59:00.002+05:30

These are free mp3 files you can download and listen to at your convenience. It contains various topics on Software Quality, Testing, Development.

Some of the important Podcasts :

Podcasts from Stickyminds
Randy Rice's Podcasts
Testing & QA Podcasts from SD Times

Explore the Testability aspect for Java Code

2008-05-22T16:51:00.001+05:30

The Testability Explorer is an open source project that lets you measure the testability of Java code. This is an interesting idea: a metric not of direct quality, or of testing, or of test coverage, but of ease of testing. Presumably code that is easy to test will get tested, and will therefore be of higher quality, other things being equal.

The following information over Testability Explorer is useful

Customers are Not Crash Test Dummies

2008-05-15T17:40:00.001+05:30

An interesting Webinar on Security & Software Testing

Lack of comprehensive software testing makes consumers nothing more than crash test dummies. A majority of cyber security issues today are created by flaws that can be largely tested away in the software development life-cycle but are not. Every flaw that escapes quality assurance practices has a high likelihood of causing significant costs to the end user.

Security today is part of quality assurance practices, or at least it should be. But in quality assurance, everything should be measurable before it is meaningful. One of the arguments author David Rice makes in his book "Geekonomics" is the importance of making security visible in the market place; that is, buyers can price their risk through some easy to comprehend metric. But before that, at least the manufacturers of software have to understand the required metrics. Today, David's talk touches on security metrics, their importance, and their use in software purchasing practices.

Fuzzing is about crash-testing your software, instead of using consumers as crash test dummies. Fuzzing is a compelling solution to eliminating cyber security problems. Fuzzing is not new, it has been used actively by the security community since 1990s. What is new is how fuzzing is used in a business context: fuzzing is being employed as part of procurement criteria to compare the security and quality of software and thus influence purchasing decisions. Metrics in this field are still immature, but Ari Takanen will give a brief look at where we are today.

Register for the Webinar

Application lifecycle management online conference

2008-05-15T01:18:00.001+05:30

Application lifecycle management online conference May 20, 2008 - Home

For a 4th year, CM Crossroads, Agile Journal and CMC Media bring you the Internet's premiere conference and exposition for Application Lifecycle Management -ALM EXPO 2008.

ALM Expo is a completely online event that provides true Global participation by enabling visitors with the option to choose which sessions they wish to attend and even choose when they are to watch sessions that they missed.

Last year, the conference opened the virtual doors to over 4000 online attendees from over 90 countries worldwide. And since the live conference, thousands more have viewed conference sessions and toured the expo floor from the comfort of their desktop computer.

This year features 5 more hours of presenations and discussions by ALM and CM thought leaders kicked off by a Keynote Roundtable discussion on the topic of the need or usefulness of process in the application lifecycle. The Keynote will be led by CM Journal Editor in Chief, Bob Aiello.

It's all happening on May 20th 2008 right on your desktop. All you need is Internet access and your regular Web browser. No special software.

Register for the Conference here

Requirements Are Required Reading

2008-05-13T11:51:00.001+05:30

Interesting article on Requirements from DDJ.

Dr. Dobb's | Requirements Are Required Reading | May 7, 2008

AppPerfect DevTest4J

2008-05-07T17:59:00.001+05:30

The AppPerfect DevTest4J is a suite of products designed to help you

build and test high-performance applications during the development phase of the product life-cycle. The AppPerfect

DevTest4J consists of the following modules:

AppPerfect DevTest4J : Code Analysis, Unit Testing and Profiling for Java/J2EE Applications

ENERGY for better java code

2008-05-07T17:52:00.001+05:30

ENERGY is a static analysis tool to measure code quality & heath. The tool tries to identify the symptoms via static analysis and then publish a rating. How it works is an interesting insight.

Check the following video to learn more about the tool.

Technorati Tags: Code Quality Metrics, Java, Static Analysis, Code Quality.

Communicating the Value of Testing Throughout the Organization

2008-04-05T00:47:00.001+05:30

Webinar: Communicating the Value of Testing Throughout the Organization

Test managers constantly lament that few outside their group understand or care much about the value they provide and consistently deliver. Unfortunately, they are often correct. The lack of visibility and understanding of the test team's contribution can lead to restricted budgets, fewer resources, tighter timelines, and ultimately, lower group productivity. Join Theresa Lanowitz and Dan Koloski as they highlights ways to move from simply being a tester of software to an advocate for your organization's customers. Learn how to effectively and concisely communicate with key stakeholders in your organization to ensure that they understand the value and role of the testing group. With effective and concise communication, the testing group will be perceived as more strategically important and integral to the success of every project.

Click Below to register for this complimentary Webinar Now!

http://www.bz-direct.com/loszsszz_ydqqffmwp.html

Test 2008 - Software Testing Conference

2008-03-30T19:50:00.001+05:30

Test 2008 is the first conference being organized by PureConferences in India. Our conference will provide a platform for international and national test professionals to interact and participate. Speakers from around 10 countries, such as USA, UK, France, Sweden, Canada, Italy, Netherlands, including India will deliver keynotes, tutorials, and papers during the conference. We intend to involve academia and institutions of learning with our conference. We also intend to make Test2008 a ‘green’ conference as far as possible. Additionally, we will institute two test scholarships for educating promising students unable to finance their studies.

Agility in Testing is the theme of Test2008--Test Excellence through Speed and Technology. It's being held at Delhi in India during 13-16 October 2008

Tester Center from MSDN

2007-10-23T01:49:00.001+05:30

The Microsoft Tester Center showcases the test discipline as an integral part of the application life cycle, describes test roles and responsibilities, and promotes the test investments required to deliver high-quality software.

Some cool stuff here are the videos & articles

At the Tester Center, our goal is to provide a community where software testers can share knowledge and learn from each other about testing, our day-to-day job functions, processes, the tools we use, and the various roles we play. As you look around the site, you’ll see videos, articles, blogs, and other information. With your participation this site could be the start of many a conversation in our Software Testing Discussion Forum, where you can join other test professionals to exchange experiences and knowledge. Additionally, questions you ask at the Software Testing Discussion Forum will help guide the type of content we look to create over time. I hope you participate in this community and share your unique insights into the profession of software testing.

Surviving a Corporate Merger - QA Processes in Times of Change

2007-10-06T21:51:00.001+05:30

We live in an era of constant change; new companies, processes, environments, reorganizations, restructuring, mergers, acquisitions, buyouts, outsourcing etc. The only true certainty is that our environment will continue to change. In the face of these dynamics, ensuring that product quality does not get lost is a challenge.Come learn how one QA organization successful navigated the sea of changes while still maintaining their quality focus. Stuart Charter will suggest QA techniques to assist you in coping with this change when it affects your organization.

To learn more, sign up today for the webinar

Web Seminar: Surviving a Corporate Merger - QA Processes in Times of Change

WEDNESDAY, October 17, 2007 2:00 p.m. Eastern | 11:00 a.m. Pacific

MODERATOR
Edward J. Correia, Editor, Software Test & Performance Magazine

SPEAKERS
Dan Koloski, CTO and Director of Strategy, Empirix Inc.
Stuart H. Charter, Director of Quality Assurance MortgageIT Inc. a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank

Misleading Metrics

2007-08-26T04:40:00.001+05:30

Come across this interesting article over the Gantthead

The software development industry has a poor track record for developing and employing effective software metrics. This is because most of the metrics selected are tangential to the true goal of software development--delivering business value--and instead focus on software attributes and accounting measures.

Metrics such as lines-of-code per developer week, function points created, hours worked or budget consumed appear to be important measures, but they have dangerous and counterproductive implications. The use of these metrics reward the wrong behavior; the phrase "you get what you measure" highlights the problem. By tracking lines of code written, visible and unconscious incentives to generate lots of code are established. On the surface, this may seem attractive. As a manger of a project, it is gratifying to see lots of code being written. But what is really required is functionality completed, business value generated and customers satisfied.

The more code generated, the harder a system is to maintain and extend. With incentives like lines-of-code written, how do value-adding activities like refactoring simplifications appear? Reducing 20,000 lines of code to 15,000 is a good thing, but from the lines-of-code perspective, it looks like the project is going backward.

Explore more here

Powered by ScribeFire.

Implementing Agile at a Team Level

2007-05-25T20:59:00.001+05:30

There are many benefits for the Organizations and team in the agile approach. Attend the following webinar on Implementing agile at a team level.

Organizations eager to take advantage of the benefits touted by Agilists may inappropriately attempt an all or nothing-at-all, top-down approach to Agile adoption. However, experience has shown that successful Agile adoptions must always begin at the team level and must be guided by a clear, step-wise approach. In this view of both Agile maturity and scaling, Jean borrows from the Lean Thinking principles of attaining total value delivery: perfect your ability to maintain Flow of value, learn to use the principle of Pull in order to deliver even more value, and embrace an organizational imperative to Innovate so that value is forever redefined and re-emerging.

Register for the Web Seminar

Article - Seven Habits of Effective programmers

2007-04-23T13:46:00.000+05:30

Software Projects need effective & skilled programmers to deliver on time without compromising on the assured quality. Philip Chu share his experiences with Software Releases and the comes up with a list of seven habits that makes normal programmers effective.

The article Seven Habits of Effective Programmers has been originally published at Technicat

Abstract
As a software engineer, you might want any number of things out of your job - a steady paycheck, the opportunity to work on interesting projects, a springboard to the next better job, or maybe you just like hanging out with other programmers. But by "effective", I mean the ability to complete projects in a timely manner with the expected quality. After working on dozens of software releases, I believe the following practices will bring you there, and while they may involve sticking your neck out, I'd like to think they will also advance your professional reputation, career longevity, and personal satisfaction.

Web Seminar: Future-Proofing Your SOA Applications

2007-04-19T11:12:00.000+05:30

Source from SD TIMES

Web Seminar: Model-Driven Development for SOA

WEDNESDAY, April 25, 2007

11:00 am Eastern | 8:00 am Pacific | 4:00 pm London | 5:00 pm Paris

SOA means composite applications - and the best way to design, build, and future-proof your composite SOA applications is through model-driven development.

Join Stephen Hendrick, group vice president of IDC's Application Development and Deployment Research Group, for a fascinating Web seminar that explores standards-based model-driven development.

You'll learn why model-driven development is the only way to properly approach SOA, how to save time and money through reuse, tips for remaining agile, and techniques for system-wide simulation and model-based testing.

Speaker:

Stephen D. Hendrick,
Group Vice President,
IDC's Application Development and Deployment Research Group

Moderator:

Edward J. Correia, Editor, Software Test & Performance

http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=41741&s=1&k=BF34681227A871497CFF3C78B79C168B&partnerref=bzmedia3

Web Seminar: Getting the Right People on the Right Projects

2007-04-18T14:35:00.000+05:30

SD TIMES | WEB SEMINAR
`````````````````

Web Seminar: Getting the Right People on the Right Projects
WEDNESDAY, April 18, 2007 2:00 pm Eastern | 11:00 am Pacific

Completing projects isn't enough anymore. The real challenge is building applications that are on target, on deadline, and on budget, to save your company money and provide a competitive edge. Therefore, ensuring you've got the right people on the right projects at the right time is more important than ever. That means effective project management.

Come to this no-cost SD Times Web seminar, sponsored by Serena, to learn how to use Project and Portfolio Management to help improve, shorten and reduce the cost of application development. PPM provides a single source of truth for all projects and resources within IT and across the enterprise.

John Scumniotales, co-creator of the Scrum agile methodology, will teach you how to leverage PPM to optimize your application development process. You'll see how to:

* Capture and assess incoming demand.
* Manage and effectively allocate resources.
* Make informed trade-offs as projects change.
* Measure progress and track project costs.

Also, one lucky attendee of this Web seminar will win his/her choice of a 30GB Apple iPod or the hot new Apple TV! Get on top of your projects on Wednesday, April 18 - register today!

Register here for the Web Seminar

SPEAKER
John Scumniotales, Vice President of Product Management, Serena Software

MODERATOR
David Rubinstein, Editor-in-Chief, SD Times

If you are unable to attend the live event you may still register and will receive an e-mail when the on-demand version becomes available.

Web Seminar: Communicate the Value of Testing

2007-04-18T13:46:00.000+05:30

SOFTWARE TEST & PERFORMANCE | WEB SEMINAR

Web Seminar: Communicate the Value of Testing

WEDNESDAY, May 2, 2007

11:00 am Eastern | 8:00 am Pacific

Test managers lament that few outside their group understand or care much about the value they provide and consistently deliver. Unfortunately, they are often correct. The lack of visibility and understanding of the test team's contribution can lead to restricted budgets, fewer resources, tighter timelines, and ultimately, lower group productivity.

What can you do about it? We'll tell you! Join Software Test & Performance for a complimentary Web seminar, sponsored by Empirix. Theresa Lanowitz, Principal Analyst of voke Inc., and Dan Koloski, CTO and Director of Strategy for Empirix, will highlight practical ways that you can move from simply being a tester of software to become an effective advocate for your organization's customers.

You will learn how to effectively and concisely communicate with key stakeholders in your organization to ensure that they understand the value and role of the testing group. With effective and concise communication, the testing group can be perceived as more strategically important and integral to the success of every project.

Sign up for the seminar here
http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=42662&s=1&k=D59D94B4021B3116AE847781C14D9A16&partnerref=bzmedia2
Best Regards,
Venkat Reddy Ch,
Blog : http://venkatreddyc.wordpress.com

Open Source Testing Tools in Java

2007-04-18T01:58:00.000+05:30

The boom of Open Source is rocking and here is the list of open source testing tools that are written in Java

Open Source Testing Tools

2007-04-17T18:41:00.000+05:30

http://www.opensourcetesting.org is the best resource for Open Source Testing Tools.

Find more details about the site below.

Opensourcetesting.org aims to boost the profile of open source testing tools within the testing industry, principally by giving users easy access from one central location to the wide range of open source testing tools available.

These tools are free as in speech, not free as in beer. While you will not need to pay a vendor to use the tools, they still have a cost of ownership through evaluation, implementation, training and maintenance costs, the same as any software does. But with a handful of commercial vendors dominating the proprietary software testing tools market, make no mistake about it –
these tools can make a real difference to your life as a testing professional!

Opensourcetesting.org was started in March 2003 with what amounted to a personal list of about 50 tools found that I'd come across on Sourceforge and thought the world should know about! Following a one-off evening of marketing activity, comprising a targeted press release and a couple of forum postings to comp.software.testing and qaforums.com, the ball started rolling. The first month averaged about 300 unique users per week and it's since been rising steadily month-on-month to about 1200 unique users per week after 9 months, and continues to rise steadily.

Best Regards,
Venkat Reddy Ch,
http://venkatreddyc.wordpress.com

Home of Tester - A Software Testing Forum

2007-04-16T14:32:00.000+05:30
Come across Home of Tester forum today.

Brief details of the forum has been shared below.

Our strategy to make this forum helpful for software testers is to provide clean and tidy and informative posts. To achieve this goal following measures will be taken: when a new thread has grown up in a forum, forum moderators should compose the thread into an essay with all information involved. Thus the contents in the forum will be more tidy and easy to use. And in the future, we will create a tool to assist the composing.
Here is the link for Home of Tester - http://www.homeoftester.com/index.php

Best Regards,
Venkat Reddy Ch,
http://venkatreddyc.wordpress.com

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

2007-04-13T00:28:00.000+05:30

Asking right questions at the right time to capture right info is a skill that need to be practiced and developed.

I have come across of this article How To Ask Questions The Smart Way and the following section on the groundwork needed for the query is good.

Before You Ask

Before asking a technical question by e-mail, or in a newsgroup, or on a website chat board, do the following:
Try to find an answer by searching the archives of the forum you plan to post to.
Try to find an answer by searching the Web.
Try to find an answer by reading the manual.
Try to find an answer by reading a FAQ.
Try to find an answer by inspection or experimentation.
Try to find an answer by asking a skilled friend.
If you're a programmer, try to find an answer by reading the source code.

When you ask your question, display the fact that you have done these things first; this will help establish that you're not being a lazy sponge and wasting people's time. Better yet, display what you have learned from doing these things. We like answering questions for people who have demonstrated they can learn from the answers.
Read the complete article here
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Misleading Metrics

2007-04-11T19:23:00.000+05:30

Source from Gantthead

The software development industry has a poor track record for developing and employing effective software metrics. This is because most of the metrics selected are tangential to the true goal of software development--delivering business value--and instead focus on software attributes and accounting measures.

Metrics such as lines-of-code per developer week, function points created, hours worked or budget consumed appear to be important measures, but they have dangerous and counterproductive implications. The use of these metrics reward the wrong behaviour; the phrase "you get what you measure" highlights the problem. By tracking lines of code written, visible and unconscious incentives to generate lots of code are established. On the surface, this may seem attractive. As a manger of a project, it is gratifying to see lots of code being written. But what is really required is functionality completed, business value generated and customers satisfied.

The more code generated, the harder a system is to maintain and extend. With incentives like lines-of-code written, how do value-adding activities like refactoring simplifications appear? Reducing 20,000 lines of code to 15,000 is a good thing, but from the lines-of-code perspective, it looks like the project is going backward.

Read more at http://www.gantthead.com/content/articles/235263.cfm

Best Regards,

Venkat Reddy Chintalapudi,

http://venkatreddyc.wordpress.com

VERIFY 2007 - International Software Testing Conference

2007-04-11T14:57:00.000+05:30

VERIFY is seeking presenters to discuss automated testing, security testing, and general testing in a variety of different contexts.
If you have a presentation that fits within those categories we would like to hear from you. We are especially interested in innovative ways to do automated software testing; experiences with specific security testing implementations and general testing best practices.
Send an email to the respective track chairs with your presentation suggestion see the email addresses here for the specific track chairs
The deadline for sending a presentation suggestion, including title, abstract, and bio, is May 30, 2007
Acceptance letters will go out June 30, 2007
Final presentations need to be submitted by Aug 30, 2007

Best Regards,
Venkat Reddy Chintalapudi,
http://venkatreddyc.wordpress.com/

TesterQA

2007-04-10T15:06:00.000+05:30

Come across this website http://testerqa.com. Useful site for the testers and classification is good and easy to find the required info.

Best Regards,

Venkat Reddy Chintalapudi,

http://venkatreddyc.wordpress.com

Software Test & Performance Conference Spring April 17-19, 2007

2007-03-30T18:21:00.000+05:30

Join hundreds of other software developers, development managers, test/QA managers and senior test professionals at the Software Test & Performance Conference™ Spring 2007!
More than 60 classes and full day tutorials cover software test/QA and performance issues across the entire application life cycle, making this event appeal to a higher level and more diverse group of development and test/QA professionals than traditional training programs for test-team members.
• Learn the Latest, Most Effective Best Practices for Software Testing
• Turbocharge the Performance of your Deployed Applications
• Optimize Your Web Testing Strategies
• Improve your Software's Quality
• Network With Other Test/QA & Development Professionals
• Track Down Security Flaws - Before the Bad Guys Do
The cost of software failures is high -- and in today's increasingly litigious and regulated business environment, they're higher than ever. Security flaws, usability problems, functional defects, performance issues, all carry a tremendous price tag.
Get more here http://www.stpcon.com/

Best Regards,
Venkat Reddy Chintalapudi,
http://venkatreddyc.wordpress.com/

The Software Testing Spot

2007-03-30T18:14:00.000+05:30

Come across this cool website today on software testing here.

This spot has some ramblings about software testing (and software design, development and other information technology related stuff too), some useful tips, an exercise in design, usability and testing and a lot of web places to investigate.
If you've got no idea how you ended up here, don't panic. For light amusement, visit MagPortal. For a slightly stronger diversion, try a googlewhack or two. For heavier entertainment, try teaching yourself a little about software design, quality and testing with this.

Explore more here http://www.testingspot.net/

Best Regards,

Venkat Reddy Chintalapudi,

http://venkatreddyc.wordpress.com

Self-Testing Defibrillator Software Flatlines

2007-03-29T19:54:00.000+05:30

Come across this cool stuff from StickyMinds eLetter.

Defibtech LLC recalled its Lifeline AED and ReviveR AED external defibrillators earlier this month because it found that faulty software failed to warn users that the 9-volt battery charging the defibrillator actually might be too drained to work properly.

"This doesn't become apparent until the battery gets low for some reason," company president Gintaras Vaisnys said. "Given every battery will get low someday, this is an issue."

The faulty units are loaded with version 2.002 software and earlier versions and can be found in schools, hotels, fitness centers, and fire stations worldwide. Defibtech estimated that 42,000 units required a software upgrade.

Customers using the affected models received notification of the software error in a letter. Subsequent letters instructed customers how to update the software without having to send the unit back to Defibtech. Defibtech is offering upgrades at no cost until about mid-May.

There are three known cases of Defibtech's defibrillators failing to work. According to CBS News, the company has provided no further information regarding these incidents.

Related Stories
http://www.stickyminds.com/FDAWarning
http://www.stickyminds.com/GlitchForcesDefibrillatorRecall

Prevent your next quality disaster - Whitepaper from Rational

2007-03-29T18:31:00.000+05:30

Development. Testing. Disconnected. Divided. Quality issues surface late. Schedules are missed. Fingers are pointed. Sound familiar?

Most developers and testers lack the tools that would enable them to collaborate on these inherently connected processes. This lack of integration can adversely affect the quality and reliability of the software products being designed, as well as significantly increase the time and effort required to bring these products to market.

Bridge the gap! Learn how IBM Rational® ClearQuest can integrate critical project information in real-time and keep distributed teams in sync without the headaches..

[Download this White Paper from IBM Rational Now]

Best Regards,

Venkat Reddy Chintalapudi,

http://venkatreddyc.wordpress.com

Trends in Testing: Theory, Techniques and Tools

2007-03-29T14:39:00.000+05:30

There are a number of trends in testing research and technology that indicate a renaissance in testing theory, techniques and tools. These trends include:

increased use of executable specifications;

application of automated technology for detecting defects in programs and proving simple properties of complex programs;

inference of program behavior from run-time observations;

test-driven development methodologies;

feedback from applications running in the field;

modular testing of components;

cross-fertilization of hardware and software testing technology.

Get more on this initiative from Microsoft at http://research.microsoft.com/projects/T5/

Best Regards,

Venkat Reddy Chintalapudi,

http://venkatreddyc.wordpress.com

Foundations of Software Engineering at Microsoft

2007-03-28T21:42:00.000+05:30

The goal of the Foundations of Software Engineering (FSE) group at Microsoft Research in Redmond, Wash., is to improve software development productivity by software modeling, design verification, and automated testing.

Get more info here - http://research.microsoft.com/foundations/

Best Regards,

Venkat Reddy Chintalapudi,

http://venkatreddyc.wordpress.com

Testing Flash Apps: What Do You Want to Know?

2007-03-28T14:59:00.000+05:30

Come across this impressive article on Testing Flash Applications as part of Test & QA Report series from BZ Media.

Testing Flash Apps: What Do You Want to Know?

By Edward J. Correia

Last fall, I received a number of requests at Software Test & Performance for articles about testing applications built using Adobe's Flash authoring and runtime environment.

Flash is a compelling environment for building rich-client applications; it supports raster and vector graphics, has a powerful scripting language, can perform video and audio streaming, and uses a widely deployed runtime that works on desktop, laptops and handhelds.

But while Flash apps can be made to look just like the native platform on which they run, testing them poses a completely different set of challenges than, say, Windows apps.

For instance, if you're looking to perform automated UI testing on a Flash application, the tools you own for testing Windows apps obviously won't work. Automated Windows UI tools simulate mouse and keyboard actions by sending messages directly to the controls for those input devices. Flash apps have no corresponding controls, and therefore have to be stimulated directly, with real mouse clicks and keystrokes. This makes automated testing much more complicated.

While researching this topic, I came across a nifty I tester for Flash applications that records and plays back user interactions. It's called AutoTestFlash, it's open source, and is a free download. You can also find a link there that can show you the tool in action.

So what's the best way to test Flash apps? I took that question to Bill Perry, Adobe's manager of global developer programs, who came back with several questions of his own.

"What are their existing pain points?" asked Perry of Flash application testers. Perry works in Adobe's developer relations, mobile and devices division, and wanted to know whether testers are working on applications and content created in-house or by others; if they're considering creating mobile applications or mobilizing existing enterprise apps to Flash-based devices.

"If you're not currently a mobile developer, have you considered it and why, or why not?" asked Perry, whose responsibilities include supporting the needs of testers and developers, content providers, mobile operators and device manufacturers. "If you're choosing a technology, be it Flash, BREW or J2ME, you're looking at the [total market] for a region. How many handsets offer that technology?"

If you've ever developed content for mobile devices, constrained resources, deployment snafus and maintenance are just the beginning challenges. "The main challenge for content publishers is fragmentation," Perry said. Nokia, for example, offers 28 different models with the Flash player installed, each potentially requiring its own port, he said. "Unlike a desktop or Web page, the mobile space has different runtime engines for Java, Symbian, et cetera. Some devices have eight APIs; others have seven. Developers spend about 60 percent of their time testing and porting."

Beginning today. Adobe helps address this problem with the release of Device Central, a new component of Creative Suite 3, available now. Device Central allows content creators and designers to build application mockups that adhere to device specs stored within the tool. "Flash content providers said it has helped," said Perry of the tool, which was released in beta late last year. " are able to create apps in about a third the time. The only modification is for screen size," Perry said. The tool also will be included with new versions of Flash, Photoshop and Premiere stand-alone products.

"There are thousands of devices out there; one carrier might have 40 to 50 devices," said Perry. "So if you're creating mobile content, being able to physically acquire those devices for testing and tweaking takes time." Device Central will solve that chaos through device profiles. "As a user, I can look up a profile and see video codecs, graphics supported, screen resolution, languages, APIs, HTML support, browser," and countless other device-specific specifications, skins and emulators. About 200 are included initially; free regular updates are promised.

Perry said the tool will permit devices to be grouped by screen size, orientation or other physical characteristics, and will help facilitate reuse of elements such as bitmaps, and to optimize them to reduce file size. "Larger file size means more waiting for downloads and higher transfer costs of applications sent over the air," he said.

Your Assignment (should you choose to accept it)
Use the link below to send feedback. Include a list of Flash testing topics that you'd like see covered in an ST&P feature article, an anecdote describing one or more of your worst testing pains, or a rant about how useless Flash is to your organization. Or maybe you'll send all three.

Best Regards,

Venkat Reddy Chintalapudi,

http://venkatreddyc.wordpress.com

Boundary Value Testing

2007-03-27T20:42:00.000+05:30

BVA or BVT is considered as Testing/Test design technique in black box testing methodology. Black box testing takes an external perspective of the test object to derive test cases.

Explore more on this here http://shrinik.blogspot.com/2007/03/boundary-value-exploration-bve.html

This is a very good resource on BVA and covers most aspects of the same

Best Regards,

Venkat Reddy Chintalapudi,

http://venkatreddyc.wordpress.com

The Future of Software Configuration Management:

2007-03-27T13:08:00.000+05:30

The Future of Software Configuration Management:
A Sharper Focus on Small Changes

Although today's software configuration management (SCM) systems are good at recording macro-level changes like file check in and check out, there is a profound lack of support for tracking micro-level state changes. In fact, many SCM systems gloss over the importance of tracking change at the micro-level. The next leap forward in productivity will come when SCM provides greater visibility into the change process itself. This white paper discusses the importance of workflow-enabled SCM, which provides both greater visibility and better control over change with less complexity.

[Download this White Paper Now]

Read These Other featured White Papers

Managing Vendor Code Customizations with Stream--based SCM
Accelerate Development By Getting Requirements Right
Agile Heartbeat: Agile Development Puts Builds Center Stage
Overcoming Development Challenges with Change and Configuration Management
Design processes for projects that use priority as key control
How Source Code Management Can Help With Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

Best Regards,

Venkat Reddy Chintalapudi,

http://venkatreddyc.wordpress.com

How Do You Think?

2007-03-27T11:28:00.000+05:30

What are the attributes of a good tester--of a great tester? As every test manager knows, identifying the right people for a test team can be a struggle. In this week's column, Fiona Charles describes the qualities of mind she looks for in testers, and the interview questions she asks candidates so that she can evaluate how they think.

http://www.stickyminds.com/r.asp?F=W12122

Test Patterns In Java

2007-03-27T10:46:00.000+05:30

Abstract

Testing is an important part of software development. Effective testing is a key factor in reducing total cost of maintenance of any application over its lifetime. It reduces the cost and time of development, can increase savings on quality assurance and of course on sustaining. Knowing when to invest in better design, in post development quality assurance, in manual tests or in automatic testing forms a basic difference between successful and unsuccessful software projects in these tough and competitive days.

In this paper we start with general motivation and present automatic tests as a form of functional specification. It will then quickly dive deep down into hardcore JUnit test examples showing various forms of regression tests verifying algorithm complexity, memory management, data structure sizes, deadlocks, race condition behavior and tests randomly generating new test cases, simulating user clicks in the UI, API signature tests, etc.

We assume that you know what tests are and that tests are important and useful part of software development. This presentation will show how it looks when it comes to practical usage of a test framework. You will learn techniques, tips and tricks for testing various aspects of real world J2SE applications. We will also give examples of the savings and improvements that were achieved by increased usage of extensive automatic testing in the development of NetBeans platform and IDE.

http://openide.netbeans.org/tutorial/test-patterns.html

"Proving Our Worth: Quantifying the Value of Testing" on Google Video

2006-11-03T02:50:00.000+05:30

Proving Our Worth: Quantifying the Value of Testing

54 min 38 sec - Aug 10, 2006
Average rating:   (9 ratings)
Description: Google TechTalks August 10, 2006 Lee Copeland has over thirty years experience as an information systems professional. He has held a number of technical and managerial positions with commercial and non-profit organizations in the areas of applications development, software testing, and software development process improvement. Now, as a consultant with Software Quality Engineering, Lee has developed and taught numerous training courses focusing on software development and testing based on his extensive experience. In addition, he provides consulting services to SQE's clients ABSTRACT The real purpose of testing is to create information. So, when managers complain that testing "costs too much" perhaps they are really trying to say, "I'm not getting enough valuable information to justify the cost of testing." Join Lee as he discusses why quantifying the value of testing is difficult work — perhaps that's why we concentrate so much on testing process—that's much easier. But until we do this difficult work, until we prove our worth through quantifying our contribution, we should expect the bombardments to continue.

Tester Tested !

2006-11-02T16:48:00.000+05:30
Tester Tested !

Come across this good blog on testing

Watch "Proving Our Worth: Quantifying the Value of Testing" on Google Video

2006-11-02T15:40:00.000+05:30
Your friend, venkatreddyc@gmail.com, has sent you the following video from Google Video:
Proving Our Worth: Quantifying the Value of Testing

54 min 38 sec - Aug 10, 2006
Average rating:   (9 ratings)
Description: Google TechTalks August 10, 2006 Lee Copeland has over thirty years experience as an information systems professional. He has held a number of technical and managerial positions with commercial and non-profit organizations in the areas of applications development, software testing, and software development process improvement. Now, as a consultant with Software Quality Engineering, Lee has developed and taught numerous training courses focusing on software development and testing based on his extensive experience. In addition, he provides consulting services to SQE's clients ABSTRACT The real purpose of testing is to create information. So, when managers complain that testing "costs too much" perhaps they are really trying to say, "I'm not getting enough valuable information to justify the cost of testing." Join Lee as he discusses why quantifying the value of testing is difficult work — perhaps that's why we concentrate so much on testing process—that's much easier. But until we do this difficult work, until we prove our worth through quantifying our contribution, we should expect the bombardments to continue.
Want to see more cool videos?
Go to video.google.com/
Think you have an even cooler video?
Add it at video.google.com/videouploadform
If you're having trouble watching the video, try copying the following URL into your browser:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=114463176347297820&q=Software+Testing&pr=goog-sl

Watch "Using open source tools for performance testing" on Google Video

2006-11-02T15:32:00.000+05:30
Your friend, venkatreddyc@gmail.com, has sent you the following video from Google Video:
Using open source tools for performance testing

1 hr 4 min 37 sec - Sep 8, 2006
Average rating:   (44 ratings)
Description: Google London Test Automation Conference (LTAC) Google Tech Talks September 8th, 2006 Presenter: Goranka Bjedov
Want to see more cool videos?
Go to video.google.com/
Think you have an even cooler video?
Add it at video.google.com/videouploadform
If you're having trouble watching the video, try copying the following URL into your browser:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6891978643577501895&pr=goog-sl

Watch "Becoming a Software Testing Expert" on Google Video

2006-11-02T15:28:00.000+05:30
Your friend, venkatreddyc@gmail.com, has sent you the following video from Google Video and included this message:
Becoming an Expert, an useful talk by James Bach
Becoming a Software Testing Expert

57 min 30 sec - Jun 13, 2006
Average rating:   (64 ratings)
Description: Google TechTalks June 13, 2006 James Bach I work with project teams and individual engineers to help them plan SQA, change control, and testing processes that allow them to understand and control the risks of product failure. Most of my experience is with market-driven Silicon Valley software companies like Apple Computer and Borland, so the techniques I've gathered and developed are designed for use under conditions of compressed schedules, high rates of change, component-based technology, and poor specification. ABSTRACT You're already an experienced tester. You know how to design tests and report bugs. Now what? Do you feel like an expert? Unfortunately, if you want to become very good at testing, there aren't many classes or programs available to help you. This means you must manage your own education. This tutorial is about finding a path from experience to expertise. It's based on the context-driven school of test methodology. It focuses on what it means to think like a tester and how to design and critique testing practices (rather than just copy what the "gurus" tell you to do). You'll also get self-study strategies and methods for developing a colleague network. It's an ideal tutorial if testing is your career and you intend to excel in it.
Want to see more cool videos?
Go to video.google.com/
Think you have an even cooler video?
Add it at video.google.com/videouploadform
If you're having trouble watching the video, try copying the following URL into your browser:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6852841264192883219&pr=goog-sl

Cauvin: Business Analysis: Strategic or Tactical?

2006-10-18T14:36:00.000+05:30
Cauvin: Business Analysis: Strategic or Tactical?

Code with Character

2006-01-12T19:53:00.000+05:30

Code with Character
by Tod Golding
When I'm writing code, I like my types to be straight shooters. I'm not into
types that are complicated or mysterious. It's simply too much work to
figure out who they are or what they might expect of me.
That's why some of my favorite data types are those that are willing to be
direct and honest with me.
Take my good buddy, Integer. An Integer data type doesn't pull any punches.
He tells you he will hold signed numeric data, and that's exactly what he
does. You try to give him a string or a date, and he'll laugh in your face.
You'll get nothing unusual past him at compile time. He's purely a "what you
see is what you get" type.
Integer is about as trustworthy as they come.
The String type is a little harder to read. He tells me he's simply a
handful of characters that are supposed to representany old literal string
and, for the most part, that is what he is. But he can be deceiving. One
time I discovered him in an application where he was holding numbers and
dates. It was very disappointing. You think you know a type, and then you
find out he's been playing games with you.
Still, String can be a reliable data type. I think he just strays from the
path once in a while.
Some time ago, back in the era of COM, I knew a data type named Variant.
This guy was unlike any other type I'd ever met. He was an integer, a
string, an array, and almost any other type you'd ever met before. At first
glance, you couldn't tell exactly what he was.
Despite his confused nature, Variant was always good about telling you what
mood he was in. If he was feeling like an Integer, he'd tell you outright.
You had to ask, but he'd be very quick to let you know.
So, even though you couldn't determine his state immediately, he gave you
very reliable means of finding out. And for that I was grateful.
It wasn't until this Object data type rolled into town that I really started
to question data types. Object was unlike any other type I had met before.
He was the chameleon data type that could somehow be whatever he wanted to
be. It was as if he had looked at all the other data types and asked if he
could be something more, something that broke through all the type
boundaries. This `60s, free-love spirit gave him a mystique that was
extremely enticing.
Naturally, this disposition also made Object a very popular data type.
Everyone seemed to want to have him around. Object was clearly the life of
the party, and pretty soon he became the "in vogue" data type that
developers just couldn't resist.
Object's appeal seemed rooted in something deeper than pure sex appeal. He
really seemed to be adding value to applications. If you wanted to write a
data container, for example, the Object data type allowed you to create a
general container that could manage any type that could be represented as an
object.
Imagine how different the .NET Base Class Library would look if there were
no Object data type. ArrayList, Hashtable, and the like--all staples of the
BCL--are made possible by the existence of this type.
To see more, please check out:
http://www.stickyminds.com/BetterSoftware/magazine.asp?fn=cifea

Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Software_QA/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Software_QA-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Severity and Priority

2006-01-12T19:01:00.000+05:30

High Severity with High Priority --- If "Login" is required in Application and not able to login in the application. If logic of the Application is wrong and it is affecting complete Application or it is a base of the application, like Masters in the Software.

High Severity with Medium Priority --- If Functionality is working but not 100% Accurate than we take that is in Medium Priority.

High Severity with Low Priority --- If Design of the Page is not as per the requirement, say, Client want Advertisement on the top and we have not included in design than Severity is High but Priority might be low if it can be added easily. It depends on the Design of the application.

Medium Severity with High Priority If there is an error in calculation, than it will be Medium Severity and High Pririty.

Medium Severity with Medium Priority --- If there is an error in programming that it is storing all the /p and O/p Values in the database but we cant see these records as per the requirement. And thiis can be easily debug and not affecting on the system

Medium Severity with Low Priority --- Currency should be 2 decimal points but programmer showing that in integer or whole value. Than priority will be low, because it is float in program but he/she showing its whole value in reports.

Low Severity with High Priority --- In Designing, Image is Distorting.

Low Severity with Medium Priority --- spelling mistakes, etc

Low Severity with Low Priority --- Minor Designing issues,

Code with Character

2006-01-10T12:50:00.000+05:30

When I'm writing code, I like my types to be straight shooters. I'm not into types that are complicated or mysterious. It's simply too much work to figure out who they are or what they might expect of me. That's why some of my favorite data types are those that are willing to be
direct and honest with me.

Take my good buddy, Integer. An Integer data type doesn't pull any punches. He tells you he will hold signed numeric data, and that's exactly what he does. You try to give him a string or a date, and he'll laugh in your face. You'll get nothing unusual past him at compile time. He's purely a "what you see is what you get" type. Integer is about as trustworthy as they come.
The String type is a little harder to read. He tells me he's simply a handful of characters that are supposed to representany old literal string and, for the most part, that is what he is. But he can be deceiving. One time I discovered him in an application where he was holding numbers and
dates. It was very disappointing. You think you know a type, and then you find out he's been playing games with you. Still, String can be a reliable data type. I think he just strays from the
path once in a while.
Some time ago, back in the era of COM, I knew a data type named Variant. This guy was unlike any other type I'd ever met. He was an integer, a string, an array, and almost any other type you'd ever met before. At first glance, you couldn't tell exactly what he was. Despite his confused nature, Variant was always good about telling you what mood he was in. If he was feeling like an Integer, he'd tell you outright. You had to ask, but he'd be very quick to let you know. So, even though you couldn't determine his state immediately, he gave you very reliable means of finding out. And for that I was grateful.
It wasn't until this Object data type rolled into town that I really started to question data types. Object was unlike any other type I had met before. He was the chameleon data type that could somehow be whatever he wanted to be. It was as if he had looked at all the other data types and asked if he could be something more, something that broke through all the type boundaries. This `60s, free-love spirit gave him a mystique that was extremely enticing.
Naturally, this disposition also made Object a very popular data type. Everyone seemed to want to have him around. Object was clearly the life of the party, and pretty soon he became the "in vogue" data type that developers just couldn't resist.
Object's appeal seemed rooted in something deeper than pure sex appeal. He really seemed to be adding value to applications. If you wanted to write a data container, for example, the Object data type allowed you to create a general container that could manage any type that could be represented as an object.
Imagine how different the .NET Base Class Library would look if there were no Object data type. ArrayList, Hashtable, and the like--all staples of the BCL--are made possible by the existence of this type.
To see more, please check out:
http://www.stickyminds.com/BetterSoftware/magazine.asp?fn=cifea

Testing Articles on TechnologyEvaluations.com

2006-01-10T12:47:00.000+05:30
Software Testing Articles on Tech Evaluations

Technology Evaluation Centers Inc. (TEC) is the impartial advocate for end users and purchasers of enterprise software solutions. It has aided IT professionals with software selection since 1993.
Organizations lose billions of dollars each year because a combination of inadequate evaluation processes and vendor information results in poor hardware, middleware, software, and service selections.

Software development magazine: UML and agile approaches, programming, testing

2006-01-09T18:11:00.000+05:30
Software development magazine: UML and agile approaches, programming, testing

Methods & Tools is a free magazine with PDF and text issues that provide practical knowledge and information on all topics of software development and software engineering: UML, Agile Methodologies (eXtreme Programming, Scrum, TDD, FDD,..), Software Testing, Software Configuration Management, Database Modeling, Java, .NET, RUP, Software Project Planning and Management, Test Automation, Programming, Software Analysis and Design, Quality Assurance, Software Process Assessment and Improvement, Software Development Tools, Risk Management, Refactoring, IT News, etc.

Software Testing :: Powered by quality

2006-01-09T18:03:00.000+05:30
Software Testing :: Powered by quality

Good discussion forums on Testing.

PerfTestPlus, Presentations

2006-01-09T16:33:00.000+05:30
PerfTestPlus, Presentations

Cool site for Performance Testing

Sorting it all Out - Blog on Technology by Michael

2005-12-01T00:34:00.001+05:30
Today, i have come across Michael's blog Sorting it all Out on Technology. Michael works with Microsoft as Technical Lead and shares his views over the Technology, Software Development, Software Testing in his blog.

Joel on Software - The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code

2005-10-14T19:54:00.000+05:30
Joel on Software - The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code

Joel on Software - Painless Functional Specifications - Part 1: Why Bother?

2005-10-14T19:50:00.000+05:30
Joel on Software - Painless Functional Specifications - Part 1: Why Bother?

Joel on Software - Painless Software Schedules

2005-10-14T19:47:00.001+05:30
Joel on Software - Painless Software Schedules

Painless Bug Tracking

2005-10-14T19:47:00.000+05:30
Joel on Software - Painless Bug Tracking

Chasing Bugs In the Electronic Village by James Gleick

2005-10-14T19:37:00.001+05:30
Microsoft Word is most widely used software across the globe. But at the same time, Users have experienced many issues in this software.

I have come across an article Chasing Bugs In the Electronic Village by James Gleick. This article was published in 1992 & James shares his views on chasing issues in WinWord.

Top Five Reasons You Don't Have Testers

2005-10-14T19:35:00.001+05:30
Software Testing & Quality is overlooked and it's quite common to see buggy software in the market. Some of the projects ship software without even having dedicated testers & in some other projects due to budget constraints there are less resources.

I was browsing through Joel on Software site and come across this Joel on Software - Top Five (Wrong) Reasons You Don't Have Testers: article.

As per Joel Perspective the reasons are
Bugs come from lazy programmers.
My software is on the web. I can fix bugs in a second.
My customers will test the software for me.
Anybody qualified to be a good tester doesn't want to work as a tester.
I can't afford testers!

Won't they look similar in our context

Dealing with NonReproducible Issues - The James Bach way

2005-09-22T19:33:00.002+05:30

It's common for the people to come across issues in the software & the same issue may not occur again even after several tries.It occurs very often in the day to day life of Software Testers & Developers.

Today, i was browsing through James Blog & come across this How to Investigate Intermittent Problems article.

I would recommend my blog readers to go through this article & find an abstract below.
The ability and the confidence to investigate an intermittent bug is one of the things that marks an excellent tester. The most engaging stories about testing I have heard have been stories about hunting a "white whale" sort of problem in an ocean of complexity. Recently, a thread on the SHAPE forum made me realized that I had not yet written about this fascinating aspect of software testing.

Smart Software Testing

2005-09-22T19:19:00.001+05:30

Smart Software Testing is useful resource on Software Testing, Development & Quality Assurance. It acts as an initial guide to Software Testing and Quality Assurance.

The following resources are useful & check it once.
Testing Blog
Videos on Software Testing
Downloads on Software Testing