Better Software Magazine Articles

The Abolition of Ignorance

The testing profession isn't easily mastered, and isn't something that can be perfected by practice alone. Good testers study testing to improve their knowledge of the areas they know about, but great testers strive to find out about areas of software testing they don't yet realize they don't know about.

Alan Page's picture Alan Page
Lessons Learned in Close Quarters Combat

Few would think that the tactics employed by military and law-enforcement Special Forces to breach buildings under siege bears any relation to software project teams. After a number of weekends training with ex-military and ex-law-enforcement Special Forces—just for fun—Antony Marcano draws a surprising parallel between the dynamics of modern Special Forces "room-clearing" methods and the dynamics of modern software development teams.

Antony Marcano's picture Antony Marcano
The Key to Good Interviewing

The foundation of any successful assessment is interviewing a diverse cross section of the staff. But asking the right questions and asking those questions right makes all the difference in the quality of information you can elicit from your interviewees.

Robert Sabourin's picture Robert Sabourin
A Map by Any Other Name

A mapping illustrates a relationship between two things. In testing, a map might look like a road map, but it might also look like a list, a chart, a table, or a pile of stories. We can use any of these to help us think about test coverage.

Michael Bolton's picture Michael Bolton
Google Web Toolkit: Writing Ajax Applications Test First

In part two of the series, Daniel introduces Google Web Toolkit's testing infrastructure and demonstrates how to build an Ajax application test first.

Daniel Wellman's picture Daniel Wellman
Cover or Discover?

Excellent testing isn't just about covering the "map"–it's also about exploring the territory, which is the process by which we discover things that the map doesn't cover.

Michael Bolton's picture Michael Bolton
The Tester Who Came In from the Cold

Traditionally, relationships between testing and coding teams often bordered on frosty. But the wall has started to come down, especially in organizations that have embraced agile principles, values, and practices.

Lisa Crispin's picture Lisa Crispin
The One-Hour Regression Test

If a customer asked you to demonstrate to him, within an hour, that your newest software is ready for use, what tests would you run? Are these the same tests that you are now performing in your first hour of regression testing? They should be.

Steven Woody's picture Steven Woody
Got You Covered

Excellent testing starts by questioning the mission. So, the first step when we are seeking to evaluate or enhance the quality of our test coverage is to determine for whom or what we're determining coverage.

Michael Bolton's picture Michael Bolton
From Here to Acceptance Test-Driven Development

Acceptance test-driven development (ATDD) means different things to different people based on their experiences—from "It's all about testing" to "It has nothing to do with testing,” and from "TDD, ATDD—it's all the same" to "TDD and ATDD are nothing alike." These nine landmarks will help you navigate ATDD no matter where you are coming from.

Antony Marcano's picture Antony Marcano

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