Conference Presentations

Designing Reusable Test Automation

This paper introduces the Sequencer design that facilitates the creation and execution of reusable operations. The idea behind the Sequencer is to carve the product under test into sets of functional operations. A test case data file describes the operations to be executed including their order and required data. The Sequencer’s test driver executes the test by loading the test case and sequencing the operations. The beauty of this approach is with a well-stocked library of operations coded, new tests can be generated by combining different sequences of existing operations.

Edward Guy Smith, Mangosoft Incorporated
Enjoying the Perks of Model-Based Testing

Software testing demands the use of some model to guide such test tasks as selecting test inputs, validating
the adequacy of tests, and gaining insight into test effectiveness. Most testers gradually build a mental
model of the system under test, which would enable them to further understand and better test its many
functions. Explicit models, being formal and precise representations of a tester’s perception of a program,
are excellent shareable, reusable vehicles of communication between and among testers and other teams
and of automation for many tasks that are normally tedious and labor-intensive.

Ibrahim K. El-Far, Florida Institute of Technology
STARWEST 2001: Bug Hunting: Going on a Software Safari

This presentation is about bugs: where they hide, how you find them, and how you tell other people they exist so they can be fixed. Explore the habitats of the most common types of software bugs. Learn how to make bugs more likely to appear and discover ways to present information about the bugs you find to ensure they get fixed. Drawing on real-world examples of bug reports, Elisabeth Hendrickson reveals tips and techniques for capturing the wiliest and most squirmy critters crawling around in your software.

Elisabeth Hendrickson, Quality Tree Software
Concise, Standardized, Organized Testing in Complex Test Environments

There's a need for standardized, organized hardware and software infrastructure, and for a common framework, in a complex test environment. Gerhard Strobel focuses on the experience of testing diverse products on many different platforms (UNIX, Windows, OS2, z/OS, OS400)-how they differ and how much they have in common. He explains how to configure and profile test machines, then highlights the technical areas where test efficiency can be increased. He also covers methods of execution control.

Gerhard Strobel, IBM Germany
Test Result Checking Patterns

Determining how a test case detects a product failure requires several test case design trade-offs. These trade-offs include the characteristics of test data used and when comparisons are done. This document addresses how result checking impacts test design.

Keith Stobie, Microsoft
A Framework for Testing Real-Time and Embedded Systems

What do we mean when we say local, remote, simultaneous, and distributed testing? Alan Haffenden of The Open Group explores the differences, and explains why the architecture of a distributed test execution system must be different from that of non-distributed systems. An overview of POSIX 1003.13 profiles and units of functionality helps advanced users build a good foundation for testing both their real-time and embedded systems.

Alan Haffenden, The Open Group
Introduction to Testing XML and Related Technologies

The Extensible Markup Language (XML) provides a standards-based approach for defining and exchanging data. Gain an overview of XML concepts and terminology, XML conformance testing, validation, well-formedness checking, and performance testing. Learn how to create and implement XML specific test strategy, test plans, test cases, and test data based upon the instructor's real-world experiences.

Michael Cooper, Revenue Technologies Corporation
White-Box Testing: What Your Developers Don't Want You to Know

In this presentation, John Peraza describes how to use white-box testing to discover those defects that would otherwise remain undetected if you only conducted black-box testing. Learn various techniques-including test coverage, run-time memory leak detection, dynamic bounds checking, and code assessment for internationalization-that you can use to conduct white-box testing. Discover how BMC Software has benefited from including white-box testing in its quality assurance efforts.

John Peraza, BMC Software, Inc.
STAREAST 2001: Designing an Automated Web Test Environment

This paper offers an alternative to the typical automated test scripting method of "record and playback now and enhance the automation environment later." It explores a regression automation system design for testing Internet applications through the GUI, along with scripting techniques to enhance the scalability and flexibility of an automated test suite. This paper will present a basic structure for an automated test environment, and will expand on each of the items found in that structure. Web testing levels will be laid out, along with a basic approach to designing test scripts based on those web-testing levels.

Dion Johnson, Pointe Technology Group, Inc.
What are Patterns? Why Should Testers Care?

Patterns are a way of explaining design decisions. This format, invented by the architect Christopher Alexander and his colleagues, has been used in computer fields such as object-oriented design, risk management, and software testing. In their presentation, Sam Guckenheimer and Brian Marick describe what patterns are, why testers should use them, and how to create them.

Sam Guckenheimer, Rational Software and Brian Marick, Testing Foundations

Pages

CMCrossroads is a TechWell community.

Through conferences, training, consulting, and online resources, TechWell helps you develop and deliver great software every day.