Better Software Magazine Articles

Reduce Stress, Write a Test

All code is not created equal. Learn from a master of the craft how to spot bad code and mold it into good. This month, Mike Clark explains how writing automated tests can give you confidence to change code fearlessly.

Mike Clark
Show Me the Money

Turn to The Last Word, where software professionals who care about quality give you their opinions on hot topics. This month, read how adding gauges to your software can show stakeholders how well it is meeting their goals.

Jeff Patton's picture Jeff Patton
Inside the Mind of an Exploratory Tester

Among the hardest things to explain is something that everyone already knows. We all know how to listen, how to read, how to think, and how to tell anecdotes about the events in our lives. As adults, we do these things every day. Yet the level possessed by the average person of any of these skills may not be adequate for certain special situations.Exploratory tester James Bach describes eight key skills that expert explorers possess, and how you can develop them too.

James Bach's picture James Bach
Orchestrating Integration Testing

Verifying the operation of a complex software system can be a daunting task. Here is a systematic approach to the job. This article details six steps for testing duct-taped programs.

Len DiMaggio
Process and Personality

People tend to gravitate toward what they feel comfortable with. This is also true when it's time to choose a testing methodology. Is a particular personality more suited to software testing than another? In this issue's "Technically Speaking," Brian Marick explores this possibility.

Brian Marick
Usability and Privacy

While most bugs that make headline news are due to careless software implementations exploited by skilled hackers, the problems in KaZaA center around its user interface. This article details KaZaA's application flaws and then suggests ways to prevent such flaws.

Nathaniel Good
Deconstructing GUI Test Automation

Window mapping gives elements specific names so tests are easier to update and understand. Task libraries group sequences of steps that make up part of user tasks when those sequences show up in multiple tests. Data-driven test automation separates the parameters of a test case from the test script so that the test script can be reused for many related tasks. Keyword-driven test automation formats tests as tables or spreadsheets and creates parsers to read and execute the test descriptions. Take advantage of these four techniques to help you test a graphical user interface, and see how developers can make your life easier.

Bret Pettichord's picture Bret Pettichord

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