Software Testing

Estimation Techniques

Devankur Thakur — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:36:20 GMT

Size and effort is all what matters eventually :-). Estimation of work is really a tricky job. Here are a few resources I think a good start point to gather estimation techniques:

Books and papers

o Brooks, F., The Mythical Man Month, Addison-Wesley
o COCOMO II Model Definition Manual, University of Southern California, 1991 (for more information visit \\.sunset.usc.edu/cse/)
o Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Inc., Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology, IEEE Std 610.12-1990, The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Inc.
o International Function Point Users Group: Function Point Counting Practices Manual, Release 4.1, Jan 1999
o Jones, C., A Short History of Function Points and Feature Points, Software Productivity Research Inc., Mimeo Version, 2.0, Feb 20, 1988
o Jones, C., Applied Software Measurement - Assuring Productivity and Quality, McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1991
o Jones, C., What are function points, Software Productivity Research Inc. (for more information visit \\.spr.com)
o MK II Function Point Analysis Counting Practices Manual, Version 1.3.1, United Kingdom Software Metrics Association, September 1998
o Pressman, R.S., Software Engineering – A Practitioner’s Approach, Fifth Edition, McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 2001

Web sites

o A list of resources for software process metrics, including function points, is available at \\.rspa.com/spi/metrics-process.html.
o A resource for software engineering is the Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, \\.sei.cmu.edu.
o A variety of lists with software engineering resources is available at \\.rspa.com/spi.
o Information on COCOMO and COCOMO II is available at \\.sunset.usc.edu/cse/.
o Information on function points is available at \\.ifpug.org.
o The information on international standards and guidelines related to software from IEEE is available at \\.ieee.org.
o The guide to the Software Body of Knowledge is available at \\.swebok.org.

You Are Not Done Yet

Devankur Thakur — Thu, 01 May 2008 12:30:47 GMT

Michael Hunter's this compilation of checkpoints is an absolute read for anyone into testing:
http://www.ddj.com/blog/debugblog/archives/2007/05/you_are_not_don_31.html

Rules of 'Zero-Defect Software Development'

Devankur Thakur — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 19:13:00 GMT

Ten rules of 'Zero-Defect Software Development' by Steve Pavlina, CEO, Dexterity Software: http://www.dexterity.com/articles/zero-defect-software-development.htm

1. Test your product every day as you develop it, and fix defects as soon as you find them.
2. Review your code regularly.
3. Rewrite poor-quality modules.
4. Assume full responsibility for every bug.
5. Handle change effectively.
6. Rewrite all prototyping code from scratch.
7. Set QA objectives at the beginning of every project.
8. Don't rush debugging work.
9. Treat the quality of your code at the same level of importance as the quality of your product.
10. Learn from every bug; each one represents a mistake that you made.

Six Rules of Unit Testing

Devankur Thakur — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 11:25:00 GMT

Check out this Six Rules of Unit Testing by Charles :

Write the test first
Never write a test that succeeds the first time
Start with the null case, or something that doesn't work
Don't be afraid of doing something trivial to make the test work
Loose coupling and testability go hand in hand
Use mock objects

http://radio.weblogs.com/0100190/stories/2002/07/25/sixRules
OfUnitTesting.html

IBM Rational Testing Solution - The Next Generation

Devankur Thakur — Wed, 25 May 2005 18:57:00 GMT

Attended a seminar on "IBM Rational Testing Solution - The Next Generation" today where IBM has unveiled their new set of test tools on Eclipse and Hyades framework:

Brief overview of the products they have showcased today:

1. IBM Rational Manual tester:

IBM Rational Manual Tester is designed to support the diverse skill sets of the people often tasked with manual testing – business analysts, subject-matter experts, and testers. More on:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/awdtools/tester/manual/features/

2. IBM Rational Functional tester:

IBM Rational Functional Tester is an automated regression testing tool that lets users test Java and HTML applications running on Windows and Linux platforms and .Net applications running on Windows. More on:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/awdtools/tester/functional/features/

3. IBM Rational Performance Tester:

The IBM Rational Performance Tester introduces easy-to-use capabilities for conducting load/stress/capacity tests. Features include Visual Text Editor, built-in datapool editor, automatic handling of variable data and low memory and processor footprint. More on:

http://www-306.ibm.com/software/awdtools/tester/performance/features/

User Interface Engineering

Devankur Thakur — Wed, 04 May 2005 11:15:00 GMT

Few links to User Interface Engineering:
http://www.uie.com
http://www.hcibib.org
http://www.guuui.com/
http://www.sapdesignguild.org/
http://www.jnd.org

Definition:Gold plating

Devankur Thakur — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 22:28:00 GMT

Steve Miller (President of Pragmatic Software) has defined Gold Plating the following way:
Gold Plating - Similar to scope and feature creep, programmers can also incur risk by making the feature more robust than is necessary. For example, the specification for the Logon page contained a screen shot that showed very few graphics, it was just a simple logon process. However, the programmer decides that it would be really cool to add a FLASH based movie on the page that fades in the names of all the programmers and a documentary on security. This new movie (while cool in the programmer's eyes), takes 4 hours of additional work, put their follow-on tasks are n jeopardy because they are now behind schedule. http://www.softwareplanner.com/Newsletters/newsletter_2004_07_SP.htm

Another Definition:
Adding more to the system than specified in the requirements. Gold plating is not a bargain. It can increase operation and maintenance costs and reduce quality. Gold plating indicates project processes are out of control. Gold plating can also be accomplished by adding unnecessary requirements. Risk adjusted cost-benefit analyses can help avoid this form of gold plating. \\.jiludwig.com/Definitions.html

Multiple Builds and Testing

Devankur Thakur — Fri, 08 Apr 2005 22:20:00 GMT

The product Version I have been working is nearing release and the work has been going at break neck speed, especially with bug fixing and its validation schedule taking a real upward curve. Getting builds thrice a week and for quite a few builds, we have primarily been doing fix validations. Already through 3 regression cycles (cycles are generally pretty long), and am amazed to find how bugs creep in some areas even when so unattached to the areas of fix. Regression makes sense really, it’s not always easy to ascertain the areas affected by a particular fix and a full regression can act as a cure for that. A small test team, thrice a weekly build, a build having 7/8 fixes, what’s the best way to deal with a situation like that, when if you have to do regression on a particular build say on bld05 and then the next build you pick up is bld09(due to elapse of time for the whole duration of regression) with all practicality taken into consideration!!

Choosing a test automation framework

Devankur Thakur — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 11:50:00 GMT

Check this write up by Mike Kelly (Mike@MichaelDKelly.com) on choosing a test automation framework, with explanations on:

Test Script Modularity Framework,
Test Library Architecture Framework,
Keyword-Driven or Table-Driven Testing Framework,
Data-Driven Testing Framework,
Hybrid Test Automation Framework.

http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/rational/library/591.html#N10223

Seven Basic Principles of Context-Driven Testing

Devankur Thakur — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 13:44:00 GMT

Check this out, 'The Seven Basic Principles of the Context-Driven School ':
http://www.context-driven-testing.com/