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Testing Middleware Communication Platforms: XML to the Rescue? Middleware has held a significant place in software history since its advent in the 1990s. Today, middleware is being used more and more in the B2B arena. Although XML is touted as the key ingredient to connect autonomous, heterogeneous systems together, developers and testers must keep in mind that it's not a silver bullet. This presentation will address the growing interest in middleware-based architecture, along with its benefits, issues, and pitfalls.
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Nitish Rathi, Independent Consultant and Manish Rathi, Telcordia Technologies
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Challenging Conventional Wisdom The earth is flat. Mankind will never fly. Reasonable people believed these “facts” for
thousands of years, but advances in knowledge and technology proved them wrong. Does the software testing industry have any such "facts"? In this paper, Elizabeth Langston will explore common testing beliefs. Using experiences from SAS, she attempts to confirm or refute these pieces of conventional wisdom.
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Elizabeth Langston, SAS Institute Inc.
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The Best of the New Testing Techniques In the testing profession, we live in a blizzard of new ideas, reminders about how to obtain value from old ideas, and other helpful advice. That's part of being involved in a vigorous, fast-evolving field. But which promising leads should a test professional pursue? Ross Collard offers a perspective on the most promising new techniques and ideas from industry and academia. He gives direction on where test professionals and managers should focus in order to improve their effectiveness. He also surveys recent trends in the application of new ideas, and provides examples of where they have-and haven't-worked well.
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Ross Collard, Collard & Company
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Testing in the Extreme Programming World Much attention has been given to the topic of lightweight development processes-especially eXtreme Programming (XP). Robert Martin explains the concept and significance of a paradigm that believes acceptance tests should be defined by customers, and requires developers to write the unit tests before they write the code. He then separates the difficulties from the benefits inherent in this relatively new discipline. By cutting through the controversy, he's able to address the essential issues such as environmental possibilities and the need for XP. But most importantly, he addresses the question: What is the relevance of software testing and testing professionals within XP?
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Robert Martin, Object Mentor, Inc.
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A White Box Approach to Testing an eCommerce System This presentation gives one team's experience installing and testing a multiserver eCommerce system that had storefronts that were to be created by the customer.
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Andrew O. Mellinger, Critical Path Software
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The Path to Universal Automated Testing The adoption of a universal automated testing methodology (UAT) can seem a complex and costly prospect at first glance. However, this session describes the many benefits that come with adopting such a tactic, including repeatability, reduced execution time, and relevant documentation. It seeks to prove that though definition and development takes time, in the long run it will deliver a positive return. The presenters walk participants through a "stepped solution" to universal automated testing.
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Celestina Bianco and Joan Carles Sanchez, NTE s.a.
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The Dangers of Use Cases Employed as Test Cases Use cases are a great way to organize and document a software system's functionality from the user's perspective. However, they have limited uses for testers. They are great vehicles to accomplish some tasks, and not so great for others. Understand what you're trying to accomplish by testing before deciding if use cases can help-and be cognizant of the challenges they present. They are useful to testers, but not for every situation.
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Bernie Berger, Test Assured, Inc.
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User Acceptance Testing: The Overlooked and Underplanned User acceptance testing is sometimes regarded as the red-headed stepchild of testing. Most of us tend to focus on functional and performance testing, and in doing so forget who it is we're actually developing the application for. Kevin Au makes the case that a formal process for user acceptance testing should be instituted on almost every project. Because no matter how well developed a product is, if the user doesn't like it, it'll soon be shelfware.
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Kevin Au, Experio
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Theory and Practice in Test Process Improvement at Barclays Bank How do you obtain buy-in on a test process improvement project in an organization with nearly two thousand developers? This presentation gives the inside story of how Barclays Bank Plc. set out to improve their test process, and how they succeeded. Kath Harrison and Martin Pol discuss their first-hand experience, offer recommendations for dealing with obstacles, and put the spotlight on possible pitfalls to avoid. They also detail the method used by Barclay's to implement best process improvement on one of its major Internet applications.
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Kath Harrison, Barclays Bank Plc. and Martin Pol, POLTEQ IT Services B.V.
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How to Establish a Rapid QA Process for Web Development The majority of Web development projects incorporate a start-up scenario that slowly evolves a small group of test engineering roles made up of people with little or no QA experience. However, once management sees that their start-up site demands professionalism to meet user and investor expectations, they begin a desperate search to assemble a competent QA department. Patricia Humphrey presents methods to rapidly launch a productive and effective QA department without adding burdensome processes that slow deployment of products and applications.
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Patricia Humphrey, Neoforma.com
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