Conference Presentations

Performance: The Overlooked Quality Metric

The amount of time allocated to quality testing is always under pressure due to slippage in development and delivery dates-this often results in performance testing being overlooked in the quality process. This presentation examines various factors of performance testing including why it's important, how to determine the metrics that are essential to individual situations, and how to automate the collection and analysis of data. Ernest Huber gives you an example performance testing process, much of which is applicable to your quality assurance tasks.

Ernest Huber, TCI Solutions, Inc.
Software Test Automation Spring 2002: Test Automation With Action Words: A Practical Experience

Action Word Testing. This concept illuminates testing as an action, a process, an art. Learn how Action Word Testing can be applied to deal with critical test issues such as lack of functional knowledge of a system under test; instability of the design during test development; and automation of 100% of the functional or technical tests. Hans Buwalda uses a financial exchange that's introduced a new electronic trading system to demonstrate Action Word Testing (approximately 15,000 tests). In this example, automation of the entire test was essential, but it was difficult to achieve.

Hans Buwalda, LogiGear
A Practical Approach to Early-Cycle QA Test Automation

Everyone knows that a large body of automated unit tests for classes, subsystems, and frameworks adds to overall code quality. However, the "burden" of unit test automation is frequently placed squarely on the shoulders of developers because of the perception that only a developer can write a unit test. Since QA personnel typically test from the user interface-and usually have to wait until later in the development cycle for the availability of that interface-they're often left to scramble at the end of the cycle to get their testing done. Michael Silverstein reveals a model for early-cycle collaboration between developers and testers where testers augment the developers' unit testing activities without adding additional process overhead.

Michael Silverstein, SilverMark, Inc.
Effective Test Automation and Deployment Strategy for Java Servlet and JSP Applications

Recent advances in Java servlet and JSP technology have gained popularity and support from the industry. The backbone of this technology is the J2EE platform and Model 2 JSP architecture which effectively separate presentation from content. However, since this design includes a wide spectrum of technical areas, developing and automating JSP test applications is a challenge for many test professionals. This presentation teaches you to employ and modify a logic to build a customized performance testing tool for any JSP application, including the successful deployment of the application into the servlet container. Heesun Park also gives you practical tips for JSP application deployment strategy.

Heesun Park, SAS Institute
Testing in the Fast Lane: Automated Acceptance Testing in an eXtreme Programming Environment

Are you looking to apply the values of eXtreme Programming (XP) to test automation? In eXtreme Programming Explained, Kent Beck compares XP to driving a car-meaning the team must make constant corrections to stay on track. This includes plotting the course, establishing check points, tracking progress, and occasionally even asking for directions. But XP test professionals have a need for speed given their tight deadlines, so is this much process really possible? To be the windshield and not the bug, you have to use lightweight automated test frameworks and tools that won't slow you down. Lisa Crispin delivers pointers on selecting or developing these tools to assist in test automation.

Lisa Crispin, BoldTech Systems
Software Test Automation Fall 2001: Test Automation with Action Words: A Practical Experience

Action Word Testing. This concept illuminates testing as an action, a process, an art. Learn how Action Word Testing can be applied to deal with critical test issues such as lack of functional knowledge of a system under test; instability of the design during test development; and automation of 100% of the functional or technical tets. Hans Buwalda uses a financial exchange that's introduced a new electronic trading system to demonstrate Action Word Testing (approximately 15,000 tests). In this example, automation of the entire test was essential, but it was difficult to achieve. Explore this real-world situation as it reveals the issues encountered in the process, and the lessons learned from them.

Hans Buwalda, LogiGear Corporation
Mission Made Possible: Harnessing Tools and Procedures to Test a Complex, Distributed System

Automating unit, component, and integration testing can sometimes seem like an impossible mission. Read how one team of programmers combined the right tools and processes to make their test mission not just possible, but successful.

Targeted Fault Insertion

Some programs must handle network errors, file system errors, and the like. Testing their error handling manually can be tedious and time consuming. Relying on accidental errors is unreliable and uncontrollable. Learn about a method for simulating errors that makes the process automated and flexible.

Paul Houlihan
A Look at a Test Data Generator

When Pat McGee couldn't find the right tool for the job, he and his team wrote one in Visual Basic for Applications for Microsoft Excel. They used Excel for all the data entry and calculations. Several groups in the project ended up using the tool–including testers, developers, and database administrators. Read how they did it.

Pat McGee
A Lesson in Scripting: Improve Your Testing with Programming Skills

You can write simple programs to help with your daily testing tasks using Perl or other scripting languages. Here's a primer on scripting languages and programming skills for testers.

Danny R. Faught's picture Danny R. Faught

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