STARWEST 2007 - Software Testing Conference

PRESENTATIONS

Component-Based Test Automation

Creating software applications by assembling pre-built components has proved to be very successful on many development projects. Just as component-based development can reduce the time-to-market of high quality software, the same concept is equally applicable to automated testing. Vincenzo Cuomo introduces an approach to test automation called Component-based Testing. Using this method, you design and create reusable, highly configurable test components that can be assembled into application-specific test scripts.
Vincenzo Cuomo, ST Incard
Customer Advocacy: The Key to Testing Success

Testing professionals are often viewed as the pessimists of the software world. Some people think testers will do anything to prevent an application’s release into production. In reality, testers should be pro-active protectors of the organization and a strong voice for its customers-lines of business, end-users of the applications, system designers, developers, and the operations group responsible for application support.
Theresa Lanowitz, voke, Inc.
Emotional Test Oracles

An oracle is a heuristic principle or mechanism by which we may recognize a problem. Traditionally, discussion within testing about oracles has focused two references: (1) requirements specifications that provide us with the "correct" answer and (2) algorithms we execute to check our answers. Testing textbooks talk about identifying a bug by noting the differences between the actual results against those references. Yet high-quality software is not created by merely analyzing conformance to specifications or matching some algorithm.
Michael Bolton, DevelopSense
Ensuring Quality in Web Services

As Web service-based applications become more prevalent, testers must understand how the unique properties of Web services affect their testing and quality assurance efforts. Chris Hetzler explains that testers must focus beyond functional testing of the business logic implemented in the services. Quality of Service (QoS) characteristics-security, performance, interoperability, and asynchronous messaging technology-are often more important and more complicated than in classical applications.
Chris Hetzler, Appolis Software
Even Cavemen Can Do It: Find 1,000 Defects in 1,000,000 Lines of Code in 30 Days

Due to the increased emphasis on computer security, great advances have been made in static analyzer tools that can detect many code errors that often elude programmers, compilers, test suites, and visual reviews. Traditional tools such as "lint" detectors are plagued with high false positive rates. Gregory Pope discusses the steps his organization used to evaluate and select a static analyzer tool and pilot its implementation. He describes how they rolled out the tool to developers and how it is being used today.
Gregory Pope, William Oliver and Kimberly Ferrari, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Holistic Test Analysis and Design

To test professionally and understand software risks fully, we need to know what our tests cover. Counting test cases is not enough-that's like sizing business requirements by counting program modules. Neil Thompson presents a test analysis and design method that integrates four key elements into a holistic approach: test items, testable features, test basis documents, and product risks.
Neil Thompson, Thompson Information Systems Consulting Ltd. and Mike Smith, Testing Solutions Group
How Testers Can Help Drive Agile Development

Although some experts say that testers are not needed in an agile development environment, Lisa Crispin knows differently. Testers want to make sure customers get what they need; they look at the "big picture" and work to ensure the best experience for the user. Unfortunately, even in the agile development world, business needs and the users’ experience often are disconnected from the delivered software. Professional testers can help agile developers deliver what stakeholders want-the first time.
Lisa Crispin, ePlan Services, Inc.
Improving Testing with Quality Stubs

Many testers use stubs-simple code modules that simulate the behavior of much more complicated things. As components and their interfaces evolve, it is easy to overlook the need for associated stubs to evolve with them. Lee Clifford explains that the stubs Virgin Mobile previously used to simulate the functionality of third-party software were basic and static-simply returning hard-coded data values. While adequate, the stubs were difficult to maintain.
Lee Clifford, Virgin Mobile UK
Lightning Talks: A Potpourri of 5-Minute Presentations

Lightning Talks are nine five-minute talks in one conference session. Lightning Talks represent a much smaller investment of time than track speaking and offer the chance to try conference speaking without the heavy commitment. Lightning Talks are an opportunity to present your single biggest bang-for-the-buck idea quickly. Use this as an opportunity to give a first time talk or to present a new topic for the first time.
Dawn Haynes, PerfTestPlus, Inc.
Lightweight Peer Code Review

Peer code reviews can be one of the most effective ways to find bugs. However, developers will not accept a heavy process, and it's easy to waste time using poor methods. Jason Cohen describes how lightweight code review practices can succeed where more cumbersome, formal inspections fail. He shares the results from the largest case study of peer reviews ever conducted.
Jason Cohen, Smart Bear Inc.

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