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Learning to Love Unit Testing

Unit testing can become a developer's best friend. Find out how and why from two programmers who now rely on this practice to improve development.

Andy Hunt Dave Thomas
Managing the End Game: Avoiding End-of-Project Complications by putting the Test Team in Charge

Experiencing end-of-project woes? Read how one test team guided the work at the end of a project by establishing daily goals to meet weekly objectives; by grading the product with a two-tiered approach; and by posting frequent status reports.

Cindy Necaise
Speaking of Quality

Technical Editors Esther Derby and Brian Marick introduce Volume Four of STQE magazine.

Esther Derby's picture Esther Derby Brian Marick
Bret Pettichord on Test Automation

Here is Bret Pettichord's collection of the most influential papers, books, and Web sites on software test automation. One benefit of reviewing various reports is that you're more likely to find one that is close to your own situation. All of these reports come from people who've done the work and have reported honestly about it.

Bret Pettichord's picture Bret Pettichord
Nightly Builds: A Tester's Early Warning System

We're all looking for an effective "Distant Early Warning" line of testing: a procedure that will minimize integration bugs, reduce the risk of low quality by allowing bugs to be caught early, make it easier to debug, and improve the visibility of the status of the system under test. One practice that meets those needs is the "nightly"—essentially a daily build and sanity test of the product.

Carla Oexmann
A Look at PREfix by Intrinsa

PREfix provides a source code simulation tool that is able to perform automatic review for a wide range of programming defects that lead to program crashes. Defects reported by PREfix include de-referencing NULL pointers, using uninitialized memory, leaking memory or resources, or using illegal values. Here is an analysis of the product.

Rodney Wilson
A Study in Failures

Examples of mistakes, manifestations, and problems help us understand all parts of the software. Brian Marick suggests Web resources that examine software failures.

Brian Marick
Getting the Most Out of Conferences

Will the benefits of attending, learning, and networking at a conference outweigh the costs of travel, time, and energy? Here are some tips on how to get the most out of conferences.

Alyn Wambeke
Walking the Fine Line between Helpful and Harmful

Jeff Johnson examines user interface problems caused by designers trying to rearrange users' data. He gives examples of software that is too helpful, and concludes that software should support users in their management of displays without managing the displays for them.

Jeff Johnson
A Look at Mercury's TestDirector 7i

Arne Henne looks at HP (Mercury Interactive) TestDirector and concludes that this test management tool improves the effectiveness of testing in almost any environment. It incorporates all aspects of the testing--requirements management, planning, scheduling, running tests, defect tracking--into a single browser-based application.

Arne Henne

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