Software Testing and Development Blog Posts

TLDR; Historically we modelled testing as something that we wanted to automate, but the tools didn’t help, so we automated entity management and that has led to a mistaken view of “Test Automation” instead of “Automatization as part of a software development and testing process”.

• Why do we talk about Test Automation the way we do?
• Why do we talk about 100% Test Automation?
• How do we model automation as part of our Test Process?
• How does Testing provide information?
• Why was a Waterfall Test Process Different from an Agile Process?
• Why, in reality, both processes are fundamentally the same.
• How we modelled “Test Automation” incorrectly, and an alternative way to model it.

All this and more…

Logistics

FiSTB TESTING ASSEMBLY 19.–20.9.2017, Helsinki

• Tutorial
  • Tuesday 19.9.2017 (9:00 - 17:00, registration and morning coffee at 8:30)
• Conference:
  • Wednesday 20.9.2017 (9:00 - 17:00, registration and morning coffee at 8:30)
  • Keynote 09:15 - 10:15

The Tutorial Blurb

Web based applications often offer more than a GUI to interact with, very often they have an API layer. This layer clearly needs testing and we can use it to support our other testing efforts - GUI, performance, etc. In this tutorial we will work with several applications to learn the basics of automating and testing REST APIs.

TLDR; I presented a workshop at the Sigist on 14th September 2017 on Public Speaking. Unpack what “Imposter Syndrome” means to you, to identify actionable steps to improve your public speaking. You can rewire your brain by revisiting ’normal’ experiences of speaking in public as public speaking.

I was originally going to call this “Speak for Yourself” but I found an Amazon book of the same title, so instead I went for my second point which was “Learning in Public” (which is what we do when we engage in public speaking)

In this workshop I will provide hints and tips for improving your public speaking. Sharing, based on my experience, what works for me, etc. etc.

I will discuss some conventional wisdom on public speaking, because we have to, it’s a law or something. I will also share a few secrets, and unconventional exercises that I use to prepare. The Q&A sessions will allow attendees to have their most pressing questions answered (at least that’ the plan).

TLDR; This post is a little negative and long, but it does have some positive techniques that you might be able to use in your testing e.g. Google Image Search. And has hints on how to create your own thumbnail and branding images for free.

TLDR; Testers often find bugs in production systems. But with no incentive to raise them we find workarounds and they go unreported.

TLDR; check that you haven’t redeclared a field as a variable in a setup method

FAQ - why does my code throw a null pointer exception - common reason #1 Redeclaration

• Using @BeforeClass or @Before can setup data for use in tests
• Any ‘variables’ we instantiate need to be ‘fields’ rather than variables
• We want to instantiate them in the setup method rather than redeclare them

TLDR; Mix and match different abstraction layers and Objects to create the architecture you need to support your automated execution activities to support clarity and ease of development.

I found a postit note on my desk. I can’t remember when I drew it but it seems to have been an attempt to group different levels of abstractions used when automating, in this case automating a Web GUI.

TLDR; Use a combination of tools to offset other tools weaknesses. Insomnia makes switching HTTP proxies easier than Postman when performing exploratory testing

TLDR; I can fool myself into comfortable complacency about code when programming. I can use testing to banish this false glamor.