Better Software Magazine Archive:

Winter 2016

IN THIS ISSUE

Playing Games to Improve Software
By Ross Smith
Rajini Padmanaban

You may not have heard about gamification, but instructional designers are now using game principles to help with retention of learned material in many forms of training. Ross Smith and Rajini Padmanaban believe that developers' UX and app design can benefit from gamification.

How to Assess and Improve DevOps
By Bob Aiello
Leslie Sachs

DevOps can take substantial effort to successfully implement, according to Bob Aiello and Leslie Sachs. By understanding existing development and deployment practices, you'll be able to properly assess the best steps to transition to an outstanding DevOps environment.

People Should Think and Machines Should Test
By Harry Robinson
Doug Szabo

Testers often develop programmatic tests that mimic manual test conditions. Harry Robinson and Doug Szabo use real programming examples to show how the computer can provide better test coverage than the test author conceived.

Moving Teams toward Automation: Perils, Pitfalls, and Promise
By Steve Gibson

There is no magic bullet to create an effective test automation environment. But Steve Gibson believes that creating a test automation vision, adopting metrics, and delivering value throughout a project lifecycle puts an organization on the right path.

Improve Agile Quality—Three Pillars at a Time
By Bob Galen

A key component to being agile is the adoption of testing from the very inception of the project. According to Bob Galen, to achieve a high degree of quality assurance, there needs to be a careful balance among development and test automation, software testing, and cross-functional team practices.

Seven Guidelines for a Great Web API
By James Higginbotham

Web APIs have opened up a brave new world for app collaboration. James Higginbotham presents a series of guidelines that every programmer should consider in the design and implementation of a great API developer experience.

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