Michael Mak
Member for
11 years 8 monthsMichael is a QA Engineer and Web Developer who can find and fix defects. When Michael is not testing and building websites, he enjoys making computers laugh. Michael also bends iron to create irony.
All Articles by Michael Mak
All Stories by Michael Mak
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3 Scarily Easy Testing TipsIn the “spirit” of Halloween, here are three scarily easy testing tips that will help you find defects in your software under test. These tips will help you easily test an app's power usage, search for a particular term in a dynamically generated URL, and verify a form's checkbox has a checkmark. After all, it’s our job as testers to make sure using our software is a treat, not a trick. |
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Strategies for Testing a Lightsaber (That Don’t Include the Force)In the Star Wars saga, those in tune with the Force wield lightsabers. Lightsabers are self-built, so each one is unique and a reflection of the personality of its creator. As a tester, I found it intriguing to think about how we would test lightsabers in our own galaxy. Let’s explore how the techniques we might use for testing lightsabers can inform our real-world testing. |
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Building a Better RoboCop: The Stages of Software TestingIn the movie RoboCop, the cyborg law enforcement officer advised people to “Stay out of trouble.” This article focuses on ways to stay out of trouble when building a software product by following the stages of software testing, using the 1987 movie’s titular character as an example. Let’s examine each testing stage and see if we can build a better RoboCop. |
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The Turing Test: From Star Wars to Modern Software Testing Hadoop, Splunk, and other modern business intelligence tools and decision support systems all have something of the flavor of artificial intelligence—that is, you ask a question and get an answer. Testing these tools is a challenge, but it can also provide opportunities for testers to shine if they can correctly distinguish an inhuman response. |
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The Star Wars Death Star—from a Tester’s Perspective In the movie Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope, the Death Star was designed to be the perfect weapon, with enough firepower to destroy a thousand star systems. Yet a small, ragtag group was able to blow it up. If only Emperor Palpatine had consulted with testers, all of the Death Star’s vulnerabilities could have been found and addressed! |