December 2008
Borrowed Maxim →
From a post by Michele Smith:
A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week. (General George Patton)
As a reminder, in QA you get style points if you actually…
Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Microsoft... →
A Zune Swoon?
Hey, anyone know how to get this thing working again?
Apparently, starting around midnight last night, all first-generation 30GB Model Zunes - every one -…
YAKKING UP HAIRBALLS →
Disgorging the Contents of the Blog Fodder File To supply some New Year’s entertainment, I thought I’d disgorge the contents of my Blog Fodder file (just the last few weeks); none of these were…
RubyCocoa and subclassing OSX classes →
If you create a subclass C inside a module M, the result is two distinct classes: M::C (as expected) and OSX::C (an unpleasant surprise):
require ‘osx/cocoa‘
puts OSX.const_defined?(’...
"Correct" Requirements →
Warning: This is one of my, how shall I say it - more “opinionated” posts. It is geared toward a specific audience; I posted it as a reply on the Agile-Testing Discussion list. Concepts like…
Happy New Year 2009! →
Dear friends!
The year 2008 has already come to its end!AutomatedQA heartily congratulates you on the New Year 2009! We wish you further achievements in your business, further high success in all…
Happy Holidays! →
A QA Anthem →
Here’s a little suggestion of a theme to share with your team as you hold your daily two-minute hate before laying into the software:
It sure does get the mind into the right place, doesn’t…
SQL Doc 2.0 – Customizing the Word cover page →
In my previous posts I discussed how you could create printable documentation from SQL Doc. In this post, I want to discuss how you can customize the front cover of the documentation. By default,…
Metrics or a liquid in a container? →
I was responding to a thread on “productivity in software - when the term is relevant” on test republic and posted following paragraph about quantification and metrics, which I thought would…
Quantum Theory and Software Testing - Any... →
Atomic physics, Atomic structure and history of how all those brilliant scientists discovered (still discovering) atomic structure, electrons (dual nature of wave and particle) etc always…
Pylot - 6 Tools You Can Use To Analyze Your Web... →
Over at “Inside the Nerdery” (love the name), Jodi Chromey did a short writeup on web performance and analysis tools. Pylot made the list :)
6 tools you can use to analyze your Web site’s…
Software & Systems Quality Conference Germany →
The Software & Systems Quality Conference (SQC) is Europe’s leading conference on software quality management, testing and process optimisation. Its continued growth since the first conference in…
When Will I Officially Switch To Python 3.0? →
I’ve been writing code in Python 3.0 (3000) this week. It feels really nice. Basically the same old Python, with some corners cleaned up and reorganized.
I have tons of legacy code to support…
My Agile 2009 Proposals →
Bit by bit, the Agile movement grew until it was massive. So now you have people - thousands of them - eager to learn how to develop software the ‘agile’ way. And testing is part of that. I can…
Child led education →
Interested in a different approach to education for the wee ones? Lewes New School (that my Sherry Juniors go to) use a ‘child led’ approach. There’s an article about the approach and them…
Trial Versions of Commercial Test Automation Tools →
Many vendors of commercial test automation tools offer trial versions.
Here are some:
e-Tester http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/app-testing/index.html QA…
Bridging the Communication Gap: now available →
I just ordered the final print proof copy of my new book, Bridging the Communication Gap: Specification by Example and Agile Acceptance Testing (ISBN: 978-0-9556836-1-9), which means that the…
Book: How We Test Software at Microsoft →
A really nice addition to my QA Bookshelf.
How We Test Software at Microsoft by Alan Page, Ken Johnston, Bj Rollison
In How We Test Software at Microsoft, Alan Page, Ken Johnston,…
Guilty Until Proven Innocent →
As you know, ungentle reader, I favor making your Web site check the user’s Web browser to make sure it supports JavaScript, cookies, Flash, and all the assorted plugins that your designers and…
WebInject - Web Monitoring - Getting It Working →
My monitoring tool: WebInject is a popular plugin in the Nagios community. A Nagios user (Felipe Ferreira) just wrote a small how-to on setting up WebInject. (though the official manual is…
New England Patriots 2008 Season Ends →
New England Sports
2008-2009 Season
(so far)
A rough season for the Patriots. Imagine losing:
Your starting quarterback - last year’s NFL MVP
Your starting running back
…
Using a Severity Look-up Table for better and more... →
In the past I posted articles on the importance of differentiating between the severity and priority of a bug and about how to report a bug correctly; but there is one subject that I left out and…
Sometimes Soft Skills Can Be Hard →
When I took the BBST Foundations course through the Association of Software Testing, I participated in a group/team exercise. The participants were separated into groups to discuss and deliver a…
Python - Windows - Reboot a Remote Server →
Here is a Python script to reboot a remote Windows server. It requires the Python Win32 Extensions to be installed.
# Reboot a remove server import win32security
import win32api
import...
That Ain’t Me →
Joel on Software depicts his Director of Quality.
I would be more likely depicted attacking Pam with a waffle iron.
Thank you, that is all.
OpenSource .NET Exchange in the news →
Our upcoming OpenSource .NET Exchange conference generated some unexpected interest in the blogging community.
Savio Rodrigues from Infoworld wrote that the conference is “another…
Hope You Had a Merry Christmas →
The day’s almost over. Snow is still on the ground here although the temperature is going up and its days are numbered. I spent most of today with family just hanging out. I found it to be…
Learning Japanese? Web testing in Japanese? These... →
For those of you (us) whose Japanese reading skills aren’t comprehensive, you might find some valuable assistance with a firefox plugin called pera-pera kun. It is an extension of the also excellent…
New Book - Programming in Python 3 →
Holiday reading just arrived…
Finally got my hands on the brand new “Programming in Python 3 - A Complete Introduction to the Python Language”. As far as I know, this is the first print book…
Machine lockdown purgatory →
Clearly I’ve had it far too easy for the past 10 years. Working for internet-based companies with unfettered access to install whatever I like on my machine, all the internets I could eat, complete…
Happy Holidays and Sincere Thanks →
As the clock winds down on 2008 and before we turn our eyes toward ‘09, we wanted to take a moment to wish everyone in the greater uTest community — testers, customers, investors, partners …
Blowing Out the Maven Repository →
After about 45 minutes of frustration trying to work through some maven exercises in the Sonatype book I kept arriving at the following message:
Reason: Not a v4.0.0 POM. for project...
10 Programming Languages Worth Exploring →
Now that I’ve completed the final class toward my Masters Degree I have the time to explore some things of my own choosing. One thing I intend to do is to learn a new programming language. This …
REST Simplifies Performance and Load Testing →
I’ve finally realized…
REST is a godsend for Performance and Load Testing. It’s not just a steaming pile of crap tunneled over HTTP.
How to Make TestComplete Play a Holiday Song →
As you may know, TestComplete includes lots of features that help you carry out various types of tests. In fact, TestComplete is so smart that it can even play you a holiday song! Are you already…
What’s in a word? →
It’s funny how one word can have multiple meanings. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately in relation to learning Japanese, and especially Japanese grammar where identical grammatical…
The Ultimate Desktop Reference →
I have a library of books and white papers on software testing, engineering processes and management, and software development that I have read and reference quite often. For new testers I generally…
Interview on Video →
I gave an interview at the STAR West 2008 conference about agile testing. They’ve just put it online. Here it is! Once again I give answers that are too long. I’ll never make it as soundbite…
Stroustrup on What's Wrong With CS Programs →
Similar to thinking of Joel Spolsky (and me), Bjarne Stroustrup (the inventor of C++) says the way we teach CS today is broken. That is, it is at odds with the needs of the industry. Having…
Garbage In, Garbage Out (Somewhere) →
Don’t forget that the garbage you put into the system might come out somewhere else, badly.
Here’s an example, courtesy of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Weather Cam which is supposed to show…
“Tearing Down the Ivory Tower of Testing” at SQuAD... →
I will be giving a keynote speech titled “Tearing Down the Ivory Tower of Testing” at the SQuAD 2009 Conference, hosted by The Software Quality Association of Denver. The conference in March…
Axiomatic != Automatic →
I only state the obvious because it’s often ignored: Trusting the developers is not a quality assurance process.
Keeping Test Lab Operational Costs Low →
We have talked about virtual lab automation being a strategic purchase in your lab in the previous post. Let us now examine the related view of how virtual lab automation solutions can help…
I awoke yesterday to approximately a foot and a... →
I awoke yesterday to approximately a foot and a half of snow. A Noreaster had blown through in the night and left the gift of a White Christmas behind. After a normal snowfall, I usually get my…
Happy Holidays! →
Me and the rest of the Testuff team wishes you a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and also Happy Hanukkah!
New Testing Challenge - V →
(The next installment in the New Test Challenge Series) My next steps on the testing challenge depend on the reaction I get to the first attempt. Let’s say I get failures accross the board….
Annoys As Designed →
An idea whose time should go: Flash video of talking people who overlay the Web site you’re trying to read wherein the people try to sell you what the Web site is selling or, worse, an advertisement…
Introducing Alt.NET courses at Skills Matter →
From February 2009, Skills Matter will start organising public Alt.NET courses (first in London and then across Europe).
Opensource .NET tools crash course
The first will be a three-day crash…
Why You Get Nothing Done When You Have So Much... →
Interesting musings on a subject I can attest to be true. Why is it we get so much done when we’re on a tight schedule but then fail to get anything done when we have a long vacation? The same…
