Conference Presentations

Contrasting White-Box and Black-Box Performance Testing

What exactly do people mean when they say they are going to run a "black box performance test"? And why would they choose to adopt such a test strategy over a potentially more revealing approach such as "white box performance testing"? Steve Splaine answers these and other performance testing questions by comparing and contrasting these two techniques, focusing on test design, test execution, and test results. In this session you'll discover which approach will work best for you or if a combination of both makes more sense in the context of your own projects-for some the answer may be black or white, but for others it maybe a shade of gray.

  • The pro's and con's of white and black box performance testing techniques
  • What is meant by the term "gray box performance testing"
  • Examples of post-testing performance improvements
Steve Splaine, Nielsen Media Research
Building A Dynamic Test Automation Environment

Even in a perfect world, building an organization's test automation environment is a daunting task. The numerous applications you need to test and their many operating environments require careful planning to build and operate a cost-effective test automation environment. Given the dynamically changing requirements and project timelines we must all live with, Dave Kapelanski describes a test automation process and environment to insure that you can rapidly adapt to everyday challenges and achieve higher levels of confidence in "Go" or "No Go" decisions, no matter the circumstances you encounter.

  • An adaptive process for your test automation environment
  • How to quickly create test suites based on priorities and the importance of different requirements
  • Capture quality metrics that tie requirements to test cases and test cases to defect information
Dave Kapelanski, Compuware Corporation
Testing Toolkit for J2EE Systems: A Case Study

Taking a test team from a client/server environment to J2EE-based Web technologies and implementing test automation at the same time is a challenge. Introducing an agile test methodology into a traditionally waterfall-oriented organization at the same time is even bigger. In this case study, share Clay Coleman's successes and challenges as he mentored and supported a test group throughout this project. Walk with Clay from the days of early analysis and design; through test strategy development and planning; on to test case design and automation efforts; during all stages of test execution; past system rollout; and, finally, completion of an initial regression test suite. If you think you may go through such an experience, you'll learn some lessons Clay will never forget.

  • Integrate test automation into the construction phase of a development project
Clay Coleman, CapTech Ventures
Test Automation: An Architected Solution

What does it take to produce automation "testware" that is efficient, effective, maintainable, and usable? Find out what you need to know to build testware that supports code re-use, encapsulation (on many levels), recursion, object-oriented methods, testing maturity, and usability. Dan Young shows you how to implement a test automation architecture that is highly reliable and can last the entire life of the product-not just during the project. Learn to take test automation beyond the test team so that it can be used and enhanced by business analysts who have little to no knowledge of automated testing.

  • Provide the right architectural framework for test automation development
  • Reduce maintenance of test automation assets and maximize testing with limited people resources
  • How to use an automation architecture to enhance tester skill sets while reducing overall training costs
Dan Young, Schwab Performance Technologies
Automation Tools and Exploratory Testing: Can The First Support the Second

As a tester you might wonder if automated testing tools are capable of supporting exploratory testing. Based on her experience as a test engineer and an automated tools specialist, Mieke Gevers introduces the basics of exploratory testing and then discusses the support from and limits of automation tools when doing this type of testing. She demonstrates how automated testing used with exploratory testing can provide quality improvements and cost savings at the same time. Learn the benefits of automating exploratory testing while looking at several real-world success stories.

  • What is exploratory testing and how is it used in practice
  • The value of exploratory testing compared to scripted testing
  • Automation tools used to support exploratory testing
Mieke Gevers, Segue Software Inc
The ROI of Test Automation

It is widely known that software inspections are a cost-effective approach for finding defects in source code as well as other project documents such as requirements specifications. You can take your inspection process to the next level by using inspections and the resulting data for process improvement throughout your software organization. Lawrence Day presents a basic process flow for inspecting source code and documentation and the keys to implementing a cost-effective inspection approach. Then, he offers a proven approach for using the inspection data to identify process and product improvement opportunities. By viewing inspections a part of your development process, you'll learn to see inspections as a valuable improvement tool.

Michael Kelly, Liberty Regional Agency Markets
Beyond GUI: What You Need to Know about Database Testing

Today's complex software systems access heterogeneous data from a variety of back-end databases. The intricate mix of client-server and Web-enabled database applications are extremely difficult to test productively. Testing at the data access layer is the point at which your application
communicates with the database. Tests at this level are vital to improve not only your overall test strategy, but also your product's quality. Mary Sweeney explains what you need to know to test the SQL database engine, stored procedures, and data views. Find out how to design effective automated tests that exercise the complete database layer of your applications. You'll learn about the most common and vexing defects related to SQL databases and the best tools available to support your testing efforts.

Mary Sweeney, Exceed Training
Test Automation with Open Source Tools using An Agile Development Process

Test automation, open source tools, and agile methods are three important trends in software development. By employing and integrating all three, a project team at Comcast was able to quickly build and deliver a critical application to its customers. Pete Dignan and Dan Lavender discuss the rationale behind the decision to follow an XP-like process in this case study. They explain how the

Peter Dignan, ProtoTest LLC
High Volume Test Automation

Most test design starts from the premise that extensive testing is not possible--too may tests, not enough time. What if we could generate millions of tests, execute them, and evaluate them automatically. This would dramatically change your approach to test planning. Learn how to perform this style of automation using free scripting tools (such as Ruby or Python) that are reasonably priced and easy to learn. Also, to use the system test automation tool you already use (but in a different way) or collaborating with your developers to build test diagnostics and execution support into the software. Cem Kaner describes several examples of high volume automated testing, lays out a structure for thinking about this style of testing, and suggests ideas for trying it in your shop.

Cem Kaner, Florida Institute of Technology
Automate the Right Things First

Not every test automation project should be done and not all deserve the highest priority. You need a repeatable process that you can use to filter requests to automate tests. Find out how to assess effort, impact, likelihood of success to select the right projects for automating. Learn to use risk management techniques to refine the process, and begin assigning criteria and ranking every suggested automation project. With this process in place, you’ll choose the right project to do now and the right one to do next.

Lance Griter, McKesson Corporation

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