Better Software Magazine Articles

Avoiding Scalability Shock

Web application scalability tops the list of challenges for those designing and developing e-commerce sites. Here are five steps to managing the performance of e-business applications: architecture validation, performance benchmarking, performance regression testing, performance tuning and acceptance, and continuous performance monitoring.
Billie Shea
June 26, 2002
Testing in the Dark

How can you test software without knowing what it should do? Here is a step-by-step approach to overcoming undocumented requirements, including how to discover the requirements, how to define "quality" for the project, and how to create a test plan including release criteria.
Brian Lawrence Johanna Rothman
June 26, 2002
The Test Matrix: How to Keep a Complex Test Project on Track

When testing needs to account for different user environments and installation configurations, the possible combinations can add up quickly. Read how one company used a simple data organization method to keep everything on track.
Mark Pawson
June 26, 2002
Requirements Are Requirements Are Requirements - Not!

"This isn't what I need," states Customer Bob. "But it's what you said you wanted," replies Engineer Joe. "It's not right. I need something else." We've all encountered this classic users-don't-know-what-they-want scenario. The fact that software professionals continue to have this same experience over and over again suggests that we're overlooking the real reasons for the user/engineer disconnect. This presentation contrasts the different uses of the term "requirements" as it explores the possible solutions to improving understanding between business people and technical people.
Robin Goldsmith, GoPro Management, Inc.
Get Real! Creating Realistic, Actionable Project Schedules

The preparation of a realistic, practical project schedule is an essential management function for obtaining stakeholder commitment, setting expectations, and communicating within the team and organization what is achievable. Doing this preparation well is another challenge-one that must be conquered. Rex Black helps participants see the bigger project scheduling picture by focusing on issues such as constituent tasks, the underlying dependencies between them, and the risks attached to the completion of those tasks.
Rex Black, Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.
Using a Test Lab Effectively

"Outsourcing" testing-or use of external test labs to perform some or all of a testing effort-is becoming common within the software industry. Using a test lab has advantages as well as disadvantages. Advantages might include objectivity, expertise, specialization, and time to market. Some disadvantages may involve lack of familiarity with the software, geographic distance, and simply lack of control. Explore some of the technical issues that need to be examined to help you use a test lab effectively. Learn how to document your results, and discover the keys for success as well as the ingredients for failure.
Howie Dow, Compaq Computer Corporation
Don't Forget to Test Your Web Application Servers!

Make certain your storefront stays open for business! In this presentation, Simon Berman discusses the critical part that Web and application servers play in an Internet infrastructure. Discover why load testing the middle tiers of the Internet infrastructure can mean the difference between failure and success. Gain insight into testing the leading Web and application servers such as BroadVision, ColdFusion, WebLogic, WebSphere, Apache, and Netscape, and understand why they need to be load tested and tuned for the highest possible scalability before going live. Learn what users should look for and optimize when testing these servers.
Simon Berman, Mercury Interactive
Did Your Tests Pass or Fail? Answering with Automation

Automated tests using self-verifying data (SVD) can help determine if your query-type tests have the right information or if they are showing you the expected views. In this presentation, Noel Nyman provides a brief overview of an SVD testing method followed by a demonstration of automation techniques that allow you to run random tests on SVDs with millions of records or entries. Using applications such as Microsoft Office, learn how to adapt the techniques taught in this presentation to many different types of applications using most of the common automation tools.
Noel Nyman, Microsoft
Applying Development Best Practices to Automated Testing

Test automation is a specialized form of software development where executable code is produced for the validation and testing process. Many best practices have been identified to allow developers to code more quickly, efficiently, and correctly, but few test automators have adopted these practices. Learn about several of these "best practices"-including code reviews and coding standards-that can be applied to automated test development. Discover how you, as an automated test developer, can capitalize on the benefits provided by these practices.
Andy Tinkham, Spherion Technology Architects
Software Test Automation Fall 2001: Data-Driven Automated Testing Using XML

Test automation is an unavoidable entity for testing Web-based applications where reduced time-to-market is the name of the game. Data-driven test cases allow the test automation engineer to automate/develop once and run many times with different conditions to test the system. Learn why XML-the markup language for documents containing structured information-is the best way to present the test data for automated testing. Explore the advantages and disadvantages of XML-based test data. An example of data-driven automated testing using XML as storage will be provided.
Rutesh Shah, Arsin Corporation

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