Better Software Magazine Articles

When Applications Collide

Having multiple applications installed and running on a personal computer system presents interesting challenges for testing, even if all the applications are from a single vendor. Bill Mullins imparts some lessons he learned while testing multiple applications.

Bill Mullins
Software Tester Certification Options

Increased demand for test expertise has generated interest in testing-specific professional certifications. Alyn Wambeke sorts through certification options for testers.

Alyn Wambeke
Bugs Beneath the Surface

Brian Marick uses two bugs to illustrate a small, but valuable, test design tip: Try the next thing that a user would try.

Brian Marick
Testing for Exceptions

The basic problem with exception handling is that it is difficult! Exception handling in modern languages makes it easy to drastically change the contents of memory. The next instruction executed may be very distant from the site of the exception, and required cleanup might not be done. In C++ the problem can be particularly acute, with lost memory not reclaimed correctly. For these reasons, it's critical for good testing of exception handling that we test all representative sequences of normal and exceptional calls.

Keith Stobie
Scripted Validation

David Bennett discusses how scripted validation helped revolutionize his organization's software development efforts. This article contains a sample script.

David M. Bennett
A Race with Only Losers

Collectively, problems related to resource sharing in multi-threaded, multi-processor, and distributed systems are termed "concurrency problems." Concurrency problems are further divided into several major subcategories such as deadlock, livelock, priority inversion, starvation, and race conditions. This article will focus on race conditions.

Dave Cline
Not a Game of Random() Chance

Online gaming poses a myriad of security risks. These hazards include various forms of player cheating and the possibility of unfair gaming software, in addition to the risks normally associated with any e-commerce business. Matthew Schmid describes a specific design flaw in an online poker game.

Matthew Schmid
A Look at Network Testing with NIST Net

Gene Sally looks at network testing with NIST Net. He concludes that NIST Net is a powerful tool, allowing you to emulate network conditions seldom occurring in your lab but nonetheless prevalent in the real world. You can reproduce the conditions in which your application fails, easing diagnosis and repair.

Gene Sally
How to Avoid Getting Burned by Your CD Release

Despite the risks, many companies do not have a formal release process. This article will guide you through some simple steps to verify your software prior to release.

George Hamblen
Automating Testing

Brian Marick gives a simplified history of test automation tools and provides a list of test automation links.

Brian Marick

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