Differential testing is an automated method you can use in testing large, complex systems. It's especially useful in situations where part or all of an existing production system is being upgraded, and the end-to-end functionality of the new system is expected to be the same as the old one. Rick Hower uses two case studies to provide descriptive examples of this novel and surprisingly effective approach. One case involves the rewrite of a complex business rule processing system for a large financial institution; the second involves the replacement of a critical sub-system in a telecom billing process.

• Learn how to determine if differential testing will be useful for a project
• Obtain some useful methods for selecting appropriate automated test data
• Discover critical factors in the success of differential testing

Achieving high levels of availability and scalability for large server environments is a challenge that impacts all aspects of application design, development, testing, deployment, and operations. In this presentation, Nancy Landau provides a real-world case study of a successful implementation of a multi-layered enterprise system that supports 600-plus servers in multiple sites. You'll see how a wide assortment of monitoring tools were integrated together to assess the health of server farms, the individual components within the environments, and the applications themselves. Learn how test engineers and operations staff work together to improve performance and reliability.

• Discover how the team overcame process and tool challenges
• Dissect the case study to determine what led to the project's success

Even a smaller-scale Web site requires careful planning and execution of performance tests. Making the critical decisions in a timely manner and identifying the performance goals are still prerequisites to a successful test. However, smaller sites don't necessarily have the resources required to do large-scale testing, so compromises have to be made. This requires good test planning. The instructor explains the testing of a small site looking to grow, as well as the successes and pitfalls of achieving reasonable goals.

• Define the test objectives; what's reasonable?
• Plan the test then utilize tools, choices, and tradeoffs effectively
• Apply and understand the results

Are your organization's software quality assurance practices (SQA) working well? Would some developers even say they cause discomfort or are destructive? If so, maybe you are focusing too much on the processes and not enough on the underlying principles. Based on his 35 years of being involved in almost every aspect of the software development business from programmer to CEO, Greg Pope shares his eight principles for good software. You'll learn about a quantitative, risk-based approach to tailor these principles into appropriate practices. By employing a context-driven approach to select the right practices for each application and project, you'll go along way toward making customers and developers appreciate the value and benefits of SQA principles and practices.

• Symptoms of "evil" SQA practices
• Eight principles for good software development