- Date: Tuesday 9/9/2008
- Time: 4:00 - 6:00 PM
- Topic:Setting Performance Requirements and Expectations
- Presenter: Ragan Shearing
- Location: PPA Event Center
Open Source Solutions Lab Opens at CUNY
Red Hat, Intel, and the City University of New York (CUNY) will form the New York City Open Source Solutions Lab at the CUNY Institute for Software Design and Development. The facility will be a state-of-the-art center in which New York-based government IT professionals can test open source software solutions. The Open Source Solutions Lab is designed to help New York City area public sector government IT organizations consider more cost-effective and flexible technology options prior to deployment.
The Open Source Solutions Lab, based at the CUNY Graduate Center, will have hardware provided by Intel Corporation and Red Hat Enterprise Linux software donated by Red Hat. In addition to hardware and software, the companies are also supplying support services.
"Adoption of open source is growing rapidly across the public sector," said Paul Smith, vice president of Government Sales Operations at Red Hat.
"This innovative collaboration, enabling the creation of the Open Source Solutions Lab, is an idea whose time has come," said Paul J. Cosgrave, Chief Information Officer for the City of New York and Commissioner of the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. "This Lab will facilitate open source adoption throughout the City where appropriate."
posted by Administrator on Friday, September 05 2008 permalink | comments (0)Reminder SQuAD Meeting, Tuesday, September 9
The next SQuAD meeting is:
Tags: squad, asssociations
posted by Patti on Thursday, September 04 2008 permalink | comments (0)
SQS Software Quality Systems AG Reports Results
SQS Software Quality Systems AG, a German company trading on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), reported in a press release that profit in the first half of 2008 rose 46% and the company expects to beat analysts' estimates for the full year.
Net income climbed to 4.26 million euros ($6.2 million), or 19 cents a share, from 2.92 million euros, or 16 cents, a year earlier.
Founded in 1982, SQS Software Quality Systems has focused on professional services to improve the success rate for IT projects. The company offers independent quality management and testing services for all market verticals (finance, insurance, telecommunication, retail, logistic, government, industy embedded systems, system integrators). SQS has more than 700 staff in 13 locations in eight countries in Europe and South Africa. More than 3,000 projects have been delivered. 50% of DAX 30 and 30% of EUROSTOXX-50 companies are SQS customers.
posted by Administrator on Thursday, September 04 2008 permalink | comments (0)MindTree Focuses on SOA Testing
MindTree Limited has entered into a global strategic alliance with iTKO LISA, a provider of testing, validation and virtualization solutions for SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) and enterprise software. MindTree will deliver solutions for the Travel, BFSI, Media and Retail segments using iTKO tools. MindTree's expects its customers to cut time-to-market by up to 20%.
"SOA applications are gaining momentum in the IT Services market. Our core SOA test team is approaching 200 people," said Ananda Rao Ladi, vice president and head of the Testing Practice at MindTree. "Through our alliance with iTKO, the capabilities of our SOA test team are further strengthened with the ability to test across components and differing standards, greatly increasing productivity and value."
According to Gartner the market for IT professional services involving SOA, Web services and Web 2.0 will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 27% from $58.9 billion in 2006 to $154 billion in 2010.
MindTree's independent Testing Practice is the largest group within the company with over 2000 members.
posted by Administrator on Wednesday, September 03 2008 permalink | comments (0)The Value of Positive Testing
There is a school of thought in software testing that debunks the value of positive testing. This school basically states that any test that does not produce a defect is not a good test. I respectfully disagree.
Software tests can be divided into two categories: positive tests and negative tests. A positive test is used primarily, if not solely, to validate that a given system, function, operation, etc. works as designed when a user enters the right data, in the right place, at the right time, clicks the right buttons, etc. Negative tests try to purposely break the system to verify that the system responds as expected and fails gracefully when it gets the wrong data, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. It’s with negative tests that we really earn our stripes as testers. A negative test should cause an error. It’s expected to cause an error. If it causes an error, and the error is handled correctly, the test passes. So to recap - a positive test should not cause an error. Does that make it an invalid test - absolutely not!
The ultimate goals of each of positive and negative tests are completely different. To my thinking - we need to verify that something works correctly before we try to break it. If we don’t know that it works correctly, then how can we know when it doesn’t? Positive tests answer that question. If the system doesn’t work as it’s supposed to when everything is correct, all other tests, especially negative tests, are really irrelevant.
Let me state right up front - I’m not a professional software developer - not even close. I never claimed to be one. But I’m no slouch either! Let’s just say - I like to dabble. Given enough time and the right reference books, I can build a class, or a Web page, or whatever. From my limited experience, I like to make sure something works first, and then I focus on what happens when it doesn’t. It’s also much easier to build. Call me crazy, but that just make sense to me.
Imagine my surprise when I was recently told that some negative functionality would be delivered before the positive functionality. I was perplexed! Surely, they could not be serious! They were. The results were predictable. I couldn’t create and save a basic record but the error handling was really nice. In a nutshell, the system could not do what it was designed to do but it looked really good.
It reminds me of a car I bought in high school. It looked really nice in the driveway. It had to sit in the driveway - it rarely ran. But I washed and waxed it every weekend! It also had an awesome 8-track stereo system! I spent hours sitting in the driveway listening to my Led Zeppelin and Aerosmith 8-tracks. Life was good! I remember a friend once telling me that the car was over-rated and didn’t perform anywhere near they way it was rumored to perform. I just wanted it to start and take me to the store. How fast I got there was really irrelevant at this point. Apparently it also got really bad gas mileage. In the late 70’s, with gas prices hovering around 80 cents a gallon this was pretty important. Of course, sitting in my driveway it got great gas mileage!
Automotive magazines would advertise all kinds of devices to boost miles per gallon. Again, my "friends" would encourage me to purchase all of these gadgets. "They will pay for themselves after just a couple of tanks," they would say. I could care less. I just wanted the stupid thing to run, and then I’d worry about how much gas it used.
I view positive tests in much the same way. Show me it works like it’s supposed to and then we’ll worry about what happens when it doesn’t or how well it performs (or doesn’t).
I always write and run positive tests first. Once the system can pass the positive tests the fun starts. Now I get to be creative and break it (insert evil laugh here). Equivalence Class testing, Boundary Value testing, etc. are all great test techniques, but they are effectively useless if the system isn’t functioning correctly to begin with. If the system is failing with valid data, it doesn’t really make sense to test with invalid data - yet. Unless, of course, the system accepts the invalid data - that would be bad. But that’s why we need to test both positive and negative scenarios. Test the positive first to make sure the system responds correctly to good data, correct sequences of operation, correct user actions, etc. Then - and only then - can we validate what happens when entering invalid data, incorrect sequences, or incorrect user actions.
My preferred sequence of tests - run all the positive tests first, and if they’re successful - jump into the negative tests. If the positive tests don’t pass I halt all testing until they do.
An additional benefit of positive testing - smoke tests! When you receive a new code drop or build, what better way to validate the core system functionality than to run through your suite of positive tests? Positive tests are my first automation candidates. They are typically tests that are quick and easy to run. My smoke tests will usually consist of the entire library of positive tests, or a large subset of them (the critical ones at least). I like to target no more than 30 minutes to run a valid, end-to-end smoke-test. With a good test automation tool you can achieve a lot of testing in 30 minutes. I like to run an automated smoke test with every new build, on every environment. If we’re doing daily builds, I run a daily smoke test. When the smoke test passes I can be reasonably sure I have a good system to begin more in-depth testing. I can accept the build, and start my test clock. If it fails - I can kick it back.
For a bit of extra incentive - consider the doughnut factor. If the smoke test passes, I buy doughnuts for the team. If it fails, the development team buys the doughnuts. I hear bagels work too.
posted by Dave on Tuesday, September 02 2008 permalink | comments (0)Reminder Denver Mercury User Group September 11
The next Denver Mercury Users Group meeting will take place on:
Date: Thursday September 11th 2008
Time - 5:00 - 8:00 ***We have this time scheduled however..... we
have the option to go longer or shorter as required.
If you miss Igor's presentation "Test Automation -Let's Talk
Business" at SQuAD in August, this is your second chance.
Synopsis:
By many accounts more than 60% of Test Automation projects fail due
to unrealistic expectations and lack of planning. This presentation
debunks the myths around test automation and what is actually
required to successfully implement cost-effective automated testing.
It describes the costs of test automation and its benefits along with
methods for determining test automation return on investment (ROI).
This presentation will help you decide what framework is right for
your project and how to improve your automation ROI.
BIO:
Igor Gershovich is the president and principal consultant of
Connected Testing, Inc., a developer of next-generation test
automation solutions. Igor has spent the last 10 years working in the
high tech industry with particular focus on software test automation
and performance testing for the telecom, finance, medical and
aerospace industries.
The Agenda is as follows:
5:00 – 5:30: Get to know your fellow HP/Mercury Users social half
hour.
Pizza and drinks provided by Jeppesen.
5:30 – 6:15 Igor Gershovich – "Test Automation -Let's Talk Business"
Part 1
6:15 – 6:30 Break
6:30 - ?? Igor Gershovich – "Test Automation -Let's Talk Business"
Part 2 including Q&A
7:00 - ??? Q&A and discussions on Mercury Products.
Meeting Information is as follows:
Date: Thursday September 11th 2008
Time - 5:00 - 8:00 ***We have this time scheduled however..... we
have the option to go longer or shorter as required.
Location: Jeppesen
55 Inverness Drive East
Englewood, CO 80112
Because of the short reminder of our bi-monthly meeting, if you are
planning on attending this presentation please RSVP in the next 2
days (my apologies) or as early as possible so the proper
arrangements can be made (It helps keep the cost for our sponsors
with regards to refreshments and door prizes.
Because of Jeppesen Security requirements everyone must have a badge.
Badges are required to be distributed with regards to work status. If
you are here on a Green Card Work Visa the badge is different so when
you make your reservation please indicate if you are here on a Work
Visa so I can get the right security badge for you. Thanks for your
compliance in this matter as Jeppesen is a great place to hold these
meetings and it is important that we comply with their security
requirements.
RSVP to Steve Romero at sromero88@yahoo.com.
We look forward to seeing everyone and having a chance to catch up on
what is going on with your Mercury automation efforts.
Steve Romero
Denver Mercury Users Group
Tags: denver, user group
posted by Patti on Tuesday, September 02 2008 permalink | comments (0)
Boulder New Tech Meetup Sept 2
For all of you in the Boulder area, here's a great opportunity for networking. There is the opportunity to present yourself as someone looking for work and there are lots of job announcements.
Please join us for a fun evening of tech and networking?
Time and Date: Tuesday, September 2nd at 6:00PM
Location: Wolf Law Building CU Campus Wittemeyer Courtroom (First Floor)
Don't forget to join our LinkedIn group where you can leverage the power of our network all month long:
http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/134062/13FF4F50F5AC
Videos and photo's from the August event are just begining to be uploaded, so if you missed the event, please check out the facebook group to see videos of the presenters:
http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5852323587
September Presenters:
Fling it Girl
Presented by Gerhard & Kary Rivera
a new social bookmarking and shopping site aimed at the Web-savvy consumer crowd.
http://flingitgirl.com/
Sports Data hub
Presented by Kevin Goodfellow
interactive football data analysis tools
http://www.sportsdatahub.com
AppVenture
Presented by Fernando Cardenas
Software that generates applications
http://www.appventure.com
NAVARAGA CORP - KAMUNE
Presented by Steve Phelan
http://www.navaraga.com
Orchestr8
Presented by Elliot Turner
A content portability service for the creation of widgets, feeds, and APIs from any existing content on the web.
http://grid.orch8.net/overview/
A special thank you to our sponsors:
Viawest (http://www.viawest.net)
We know that businesses need solutions that can help drive growth, improve productivity, and deliver more products and services ? easier and faster. As an experienced and trusted, super-regional provider of colocation, managed hosting and business continuity solutions, ViaWest has become a production partner to thousands of companies. We can design, implement and support your critical data and infrastructure ? allowing you to focus on your core business.
Silicon Flatirons (http://www.silicon-flatirons.com)
The Silicon Flatirons Program of the University of Colorado is delighted to be associated with the Technology Meetup. Silicon Flatiron?s mission is to support local entrepreneurship in the technology sector, technology policy development and to raise Colorado?s profile as a technology hub. It holds an array of programs and conducts research projects as explained at our website at www.silicon-flatirons.org.
w3w3.com Talk Radio (http://w3w3.com...)
Colorado?s Voice of the Technology Community ? We link people and organizations to unique and valuable resources.
Holme Roberts & Owen LLP (http://www.hro.com/)
(HRO) is an international law firm with approximately 265 lawyers in nine offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Utah, and Europe. The firm has a tradition of building lasting relationships with entrepreneurial pioneers, including those involved in complex business transactions, technology, and the environment.
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This message was sent by Robert Reich (robert@getmedium.com) from The Boulder Denver New Technology Meetup.
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Hills and Valleys, all are relative
I went on the Black Hills SD Train Ride today (Labor Day) with my toddler and spouse. Very fun, a big black noisy hot steam engine which needs warming up and oiling for each use. It was the first time my toddler agreed to get on a train without freaking out at the noise.
Here we go with the Parallels At The Office.. many Projects are huge, loud and noisy with their self-puffed air of importance and Hot Air Pressure. I confess some have freaked me out in the past. When you find yourself in the middle of one at the peak of chaos (at Sun for the past 2 of 8 years I was the sole QA on a Team of Core Developers who were quarterly assigned to The Most Dire and Needy Project of the Quarter), it can be hot and noisy.
Then you focus on one piece at a time and realize others fall away in importance as you clear the air and find the common clarities. It's kind of fun. Like in two days I can spot two people wishing for the same thing but not knowing they can solve each others' issues until I get them in the same room and coach them to repeat to each other what they had "wished" to me. We eliminated a major deployment and maintenance headache for a large webservice app when I visited the remote campus at my own expense and walked one person to the others' office one floor away on that same campus.
Back to the Title of this entry.. as the Steam Engine climbed the Black Hills, it slowed but never lost momentum. Slow progress was not an issue as the grade of ascent was controlled to be no more than what could be handled. This is how Agile comes into the picture with daily scrums and sprint planning that control the quantity and complexity of demands. Going up was not seen as an obstacle, but as an opportunity to view further scenery. Life and Projects would be pretty boring if they were all flat and predictable.
posted by Sue on Tuesday, September 02 2008 permalink | comments (0)
Senior QA Automation Engineer
We are looking for a Senior QA Automation Engineer for One of Clients Indian office located at Hyderabad.
The Senior QA Automation Engineer will be responsible for designing, implementing and driving our overall QA automation strategy. Working across the Software Development team you will play a significant in our ability to deliver site enhancements faster, and with greater quality.
Responsibilities:
- Drive Improvements in UI automation infrastructure
- Design and deliver a reliable and repeatable automation model for all projects.
- Monitor, create and maintain UI automation tests and test frameworks
- Proficiently decompose requirements and develop test automation for projects of simple to high complexity
- Develop and manage effective test strategies and test plans for existing and new web based applications
- Set standards and define best practices for automation testing
- Lead automation development efficiency, maintainability and reusability
- Maintain an efficient, high-quality library of scripts for automated testing.
- Perform QA automation testing of projects in coordination with other departments within the company.
- Help ensure overall product quality
Qualifications:
- 3+ years combined experience in Development and/or QA
- Minimum 2 years developing UI automation tests and/or frameworks (not just record and replay).
- Understands automation tools and uses them in the most efficient manner
- Excellent knowledge of the principal Internet networking protocols
- Familiarity with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, XML
- Basic understanding of SQL and Web programming desired
- Expertise with QA methodologies and especially of automated testing (functionality, load & performance) Expertise with Unit and test automation
- Demonstrable analytic and problem-solving skills, particularly as it relates to test creation
- Meticulous about details and quality with excellent trouble shooting skills
Work Location: Hyderabad, India
Please forward your resumes to careers@prepsunindia.com should mention subject as a ”QA” ASAP as the requirements are Urgent
and Immediate.
With
Current Salary
Notice Period
Total No of years Experience
Willing to relocate to Hyderabad? Yes
And also if you have any of your friends or colleagues who are looking for a career change, you could pass my mail-id to them or revert with their contact information (mobile nos etc).
Thanks
With Regards
Dinesh
9940193324
posted by Prepsun on Tuesday, September 02 2008 permalink | comments (0)
Is SOA causing more bugs?
Just read a ZDNet article about the movement toward SOA (service oriented architectures) and the resulting increase in bugs. IDC's study found that a typical organization now spends between $5 and $22 million a year fixing software defects.
Web 2.0 and SOA were supposed to simplify the development process, instead it seems to be causing a tangled mess.
Anyone out there whose organization has made the move to SOA and seen a simultaneous increase in job security?!
posted by Michelle on Monday, September 01 2008 permalink | comments (0)