test automation

Better Software Magazine Articles

The Bug You're Most Likely to Miss

We all miss some bugs, but the bug you're most likely to miss is one that gives wrong results that might look right. Let's look at a famous and costly example, then we'll see what we can do during testing to avoid a similar disaster.

Bob Stahl
Bret Pettichord on Test Automation

Here is Bret Pettichord's collection of the most influential papers, books, and Web sites on software test automation. One benefit of reviewing various reports is that you're more likely to find one that is close to your own situation. All of these reports come from people who've done the work and have reported honestly about it.

Bret Pettichord's picture Bret Pettichord
A Look at PREfix by Intrinsa

PREfix provides a source code simulation tool that is able to perform automatic review for a wide range of programming defects that lead to program crashes. Defects reported by PREfix include de-referencing NULL pointers, using uninitialized memory, leaking memory or resources, or using illegal values. Here is an analysis of the product.

Rodney Wilson
A Look at TestTrack Pro by Seapine Software

Michele Rigney finds that Seapine's TestTrack Pro has added value to her company's products by providing a centralized system that captures the wants and needs of clients. Issues are tracked from initial report through resolution and release, and all the steps along the way are documented.

Michele D. Rigney
A Look at Mercury's TestDirector 7i

Arne Henne looks at HP (Mercury Interactive) TestDirector and concludes that this test management tool improves the effectiveness of testing in almost any environment. It incorporates all aspects of the testing--requirements management, planning, scheduling, running tests, defect tracking--into a single browser-based application.

Arne Henne
A Look at T-VEC's Test Vector Generation System

Before they started using T-VEC, David Statezni's group was manually creating and running requirements tests and separately creating and running code coverage tests. T-VEC's features allowed them to save time.

David Statezni
A Look at Testing Web Applications with eValid

When Robert Sabourin set up a testing lab for a major e-commerce Web-based application, he chose eValid from Software Research, Inc., as the tool for use in functional, performance, and load testing of the application. The product did the job at a very reasonable price, and they were able to find some very important bugs well ahead of their target delivery dates.

Robert Sabourin's picture Robert Sabourin
My Next Mission (And How You Might Benefit from It)

Technical Editor Brian Marick proposes organizing a public effort to test a real software product.

Brian Marick
A Look at Rational SQA Robot

Noel Nyman continues sharing his experiences of working in the Microsoft WindowsNT Group, where he evaluated several automation tools for the Applications Test team. This is the second installment in a series.

Noel Nyman
Quality Assurance and Testing

Brian Marick argues for using testers at the requirements analysis stage of a project. He says, "While QA is primarily about process, testing—my specialty—is about product. Whatever else a tester might do, she certainly eventually exercises the product with the aim of discovering problems a user might encounter. This essay is about that 'whatever else' the tester does."

Brian Marick

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