sss ssss rrrrrrrrrrr ssss ss rrrr rrrr sssss s rrrr rrrr ssssss rrrr rrrr ssssssss rrrr rrrr ssssss rrrrrrrrr s ssssss rrrr rrrr ss sssss rrrr rrrr sss sssss rrrr rrrr s sssssss rrrrr rrrrr +===================================================+ +======= Testing Techniques Newsletter (TTN) =======+ +======= ON-LINE EDITION =======+ +======= July 1998 =======+ +===================================================+ TESTING TECHNIQUES NEWSLETTER (TTN), Online Edition, is E-mailed monthly to support the Software Research, Inc. (SR)/TestWorks user community and to provide information of general use to the worldwide software quality and testing community. Permission to copy and/or re-distribute is granted, and secondary circulation is encouraged by recipients of TTN-Online provided that the entire document/file is kept intact and this complete copyright notice appears with it in all copies. (c) Copyright 1998 by Software Research, Inc. ======================================================================== INSIDE THIS ISSUE: o Call for Participation, 2nd International Quality Week/Europe (9- 13 November 1998, Brussels, Belgium) o Rapid Application Development: A Brief Overview, by Morton A. Hirschberg o STICK WITH YOUR GUNS!, by Michael Brandstetter o TestWorks Corner: The Latest System Additions o More Professional Attitude Towards Testing Recommended... o Siemens Paper Available... o Automation for Year 2000 Testing, by Darlene Mackay, CQA o SR's Software Quality Portal o Useful Internet Proverbs... o Call for Papers -- 9th International Workshop on Research Issues on Data Engineering: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR VIRTUAL ENTERPRISES (RIDE-VE'99) o TTN Submittal Policy o TTN SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ======================================================================== F I N A L N O T I F I C A T I O N Call for Papers and Participation Conference Theme: EURO & Y2K: The Industrial Impact Brussels, Belgium -- 9-13 November 1998 QWE'98 is the second in the continuing series of International Software Quality Week/Europe Conferences that focus on advances in software test technology, quality control, risk management, software safety, and test automation. This years' theme, "EURO & Y2K: The Industrial Impact" draws attention to the implications of the EURO and Year-2000 (Y2K) conversion efforts now so important to the software quality industry. We are soliciting tutorials and 45- and 90-minute presentations or panel discussions on any area of QA, Testing and Automation, and related issues. Real-life experiences or how to stories are particularly encouraged. Mark your calendars and make your preparations now! Abstracts and Proposals Due: 17 July 1998 Notification of Participation: 24 August 1998 Camera Ready Materials Due: 18 September 1998 Fill out a Speaker Data Sheet at: <http://www.soft.com/QualWeek/QWE98/qwe98.speaker.html>. Questions? Check out our WebSite or call [+1] (415) 550-3020. ======================================================================== Rapid Application Development: A Brief Overview by Morton A. Hirschberg U.S. Army Research Laboratory Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland 21005 Introduction Rapid Application Development (RAD), a revolutionary software archetype of the 1990's, while living up to its promise is still a fertile area for continued research and additional capitalization. This is evidenced by recent workshops at the University of Southern California-Center for Software Engineering (June 1997 and March 1998), the Software Productivity Consortium Workshop in Herndon, VA (November 1997), The Software and Systems Engineering Productivity Project of the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation, Austin, TX, and the STC Panel (April 1998). With little variation the tenets of RAD are essentially those of software development in general: methodology or choice of architectures and tools, requirements and design analyses, selection of personnel and management, construction, and implementation and support. What then sets it apart is a very structured approach typically relying on small well-trained teams, use of evolutionary prototypes, and rigid limits on development time frames. In summary, the goals of RAD are: faster, better, cheaper. The Search for the Universal Architecture Much as the search for the Holy Grail, software developers are continually seeking the universal architecture. One of the strategies of RAD is an up front investment in producing a suitable architecture and populating it with just the right tool suite. At the core of development is the utilization, and, although not a strict dictum, the use of the Spiral Model which allows incremental and repetitive development. The use of Object-Oriented methods is encouraged to speed development and allow for reduced rework and possible reuse. Automated code generators such as the Computer-Aided Prototyping System (CAPS) replaces slow hand written code and minimizes coding errors. RAD also allows for users to employ their own query and update languages, report generators, decision support languages, as well as specification languages. This tailoring and flexibility in the rapid production of prototypes, products, and systems is mitigated by domain specificity which brings order out of apparent chaos. Will My Ship Sail on Land as Well as the Sea One of my favorite fairy tales revolves about manufacturing a ship that will sail on land as well as the sea. The successful inventor clearly states the requirements in the problem statement or statement of work (SOW) and then focuses on the design and then construction of such a vehicle. He stays on the critical path throughout the development without any sacrifice of high quality. In the end, the user needs are fully met. Formal requirements establish a clear definition of the tasks. They also are used to communicate the system capabilities among the customer, user and developer. Requirements should include design features, performance goals, and schedule and cost estimates. The use of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) Capability Maturity Model (CMM) can be an invaluable resource in suggesting what should be done by having a well defined and well understood processes. An important goal of RAD is to keep the time between design and delivery as short as possible. So, the use of cost estimators such as the COCOMO model, to name but one, and PERT charts to stay on the critical path, are highly encouraged. Who's on First RAD depends upon continuous, high quality, production. The optimal is a team of users, acquirers, and developers who can communicate effectively and successfully develop their products without schedule delays or cost overruns. To this end, as Dr. Cross points out, experience counts. Similarly, it is management's function to eliminate unnecessary tasks, streamline activities, and increase work time while the staff reduces time per task, and reduces or eliminates backtracking. Having a well trained, fully collaborative team is an essential ingredient for success. The team should be full participants in project planning. The core of the team should stay together from start to finish. Support tools should be provided to those skilled in using them. Quality and configuration management should be imposed from within. Anytime, anywhere development and the use of virtual offices provides an atmosphere for employee satisfaction. Construction This is the phase where prototypes are formed, products developed, and systems produced. It is the crucible of the architecture and tools and the staff and managers who mold and construct them. This is what we have been waiting for - the answers to our questions. We can see the effects of inputs on outputs and marvel at sometimes unexpected but correct results and also see faults and shortcomings as well. We can determine how robust our products and systems are and if prototypes should be further developed. We can assess risk with far greater accuracy and project the shelf life of our efforts. We can see the quality of our work. We can mark our progress towards meeting time to market, determine our status relative to our competitors, record the time to mature new processes, and estimate if our efforts will scale if they are prototypical. We can save elements which can be reused. We can consider how new systems can improve our business and streamline our processes and procedures. We can see if we are truly generating new and valuable information. It's Not Over Until It's Over Once we have crossed the construction hurdle and decided to continue we enter the implementation and support phases. In other words, coding, use and maintenance. The later, as we know, can be 90% of the entire life cycle cost. It is here where we continue our metrics collection but with the counsel of our users. It is here where we continue to respond to requirements and design changes, make modifications, corrections, and improvements. It is here where we assess our true costs and profits (hopefully no losses) and calculate our return on investment (ROI). It is here where we begin to plan for the future. Conclusions RAD has proven to be a valuable software strategy. It is not without its pitfalls and risks. It requires the right mix of methodologies, tools, personnel and management. Its use depends upon complexity of the domain or application, the organizational environment, the skills of staff and management, and the architectures and infrastructures available. RAD is worthy of continued research and capitalization. References Boehm, Barry; Devnani-Chulani, Sunita and Egyed, Alexander, Editors. Knowledge Summary: Focused Workshop on Rapid Application Development, USC, Los Angeles, 25-27 June 1997. The Software Productivity Consortium. The 5th Member Forum Proceedings: Technologies for the Rapid Development of Software, October 28-30, 1997, SPC-97091-CMC, Herndon, VA, November 1997. The University of California, Davis. Multiple web site postings. ======================================================================== STICK WITH YOUR GUNS! By Michael Brandstetter, Editor, www.softwaretester.com (c) VCS 1998 The last time I've checked, of the 1,100 U.S. universities and colleges offering degrees in Computer Sciences, only three offered degrees with a focus on software testing. Simply amazing! Software houses are churning out thousands of applications each year, running everything from electric blankets to nuclear reactors, yet there are not enough serious educational programs for specialists trained to evaluate and assure proper function of software products. Of course, one can find a few educational resources for software testing online and software companies may provide their own, in-house training. Mostly though, education in software testing is self-directed, with the core knowledge gained in other computerrelated fields. The lack of educational programs at institutions of higher learning reflects the attitude of the IT industry towards the software test engineer in general. The development lifecycle could not be completed without the professional expertise of a team of testers. Many companies, though - and by far too many developers - view the software tester as a lower life form in the food chain of product development, simply because they are not dreaming up new gadgets to fuel the revenue stream. For many programmers, therefor, testing is only the springboard into software development. In my opinion, this attitude will greatly impair the competitive future of some software makers; but it will also provide a great future for those choosing software testing as a lasting career. Given the current market crunch in the IT labor force, software test engineers, already in shortage, will be a rare and valuable find in the near future. According to the Information Technology Association of America, 346,000 IT positions are currently unfilled. This number represents almost 10% of total U.S. IT employment. Given the current disparity in status, recognition and salaries, it is therefor no surprise that graduates and professionals with working experience are defecting to the development arena. It is simply a market-driven choice, but one which also works in reverse. Those that choose to remain in testing, or are now deciding to enter the testing field, will see their choice rewarded with increasing salaries and recognition, rivaling their developer counterparts. The truth is, no matter how many programmers develop new software, they are ill prepared to test them and to get them market ready. Some industry experts maintain that because of the market situation, development positions will have to be filled with programmers of solid cross competencies in both development and testing. Are developers prepared to add the many years of education and training necessary to practice the art of testing? Will a developer-tester create shippable quality at both ends of the cycle? Will such hybrid positions deliver a shippable product in time? It is highly doubtful. Hence, if you are a software test engineer, or try to decide which career track to pursue, don't let the promises of greener pastures in development fool you; stick to your guns, because time is on your side. ======================================================================== TestWorks Corner: The Latest System Additions As regular TTN-Online readers know, TestWorks is SR's family of software testing and validation tools aimed at Windows and UNIX workstations. Complete information about TestWorks can be found at: <http://www.soft.com/Products>. Recent changes and/or additions to the TestWorks product line include: o New CAPBAK/MSW Version. Aimed at support for more-complex Windows 95/NT applications, CAPBAK/MSW Ver. 3.2 adds enhanced ObjectMode operation, simplified licensing, and many other features. o New TCAT/C-C++ Version. Now you can complete your coverage analyses from within the MS Visual C++ environment. Full access to TCAT's features is just a mouse- click away in the newest TCAT/C-C++ Ver. 2.1 for Windows 95/NT. o Evaluations and Upgrades. You can download the new software from our WebSite at: <http://www.soft.com/Products/Downloads> This page gives you complete instructions on which version to choose and for what purpose. o License Keys. If you already have a key it should work. But if you are a new evaluator and/or if your key has expired, simply go to: <http://www.soft.com/Products/Downloads/send.license.html> Answer a few questions and a license key will be Email to you in less than a day. Complete information on any TestWorks product or product bundle is available from sales@soft.com. ======================================================================== More Professional Attitude Toward Testing Recommended I am a software developer interested in a more professional attitude towards testing. I have been reading your newsletter for a few months now and it has got me interested in the whole issue of testing. Can you recommend any good books on testing which will allow me to investigate further. I am mostly interested in regression testing as most of my work involves modifying legacy code in C and C++. I would also like to get hold of good examples and best practices and scenarios where testing has helped as this will help me justify taking a more professional approach to testing to my boss. Any good web sites on the subject would also be appreciated. Thank you in advance. Shobana PatelOpen Minds ======================================================================== Siemens Paper Available Readers who did not attend Quality Week '98 can see a PostScript or PDF copy of one of the fine paper presented there by H. Foster, T. Goradia, T. Ostrand and W. Szermer, "A Visual Test Development Environment for GUI Systems," Proceedings QW'98, 26-29 May 1998, San Francisco, CA. The URL for this is: <http://www.scr.siemens.com/p_mastrframeset.htm> ======================================================================== Automation for Year 2000 Testing by Darlene Mackay, CQA Quality Consultants Unlimited, Inc. Phone: +1 (310) 563-1800 Email: qcu@aol.com Time is passing quickly and companies are becoming more and more concerned about their year 2000 projects. Many companies have a handle on their conversion efforts and are beginning to focus on their testing effort. The test strategy for Year 2000 testing must be based on the "business" viewpoint and not on the "dates changed" viewpoint. Companies must be able to continue their business processes without interruption. At QCU, we employ four major categories of test automation tools when developing a test strategy for our clients: (1) Test Case Design; (2) Capture/Playback; (3) Date Aging; and (4) Test Management. Let's look at the role of each: 1. Test Case Design If a systematic approach is not used to design test cases, the arbitrarily-selected test set often results in inefficient testing, leaving some functions untested while redundantly testing others. Critical business processes should be identified and prioritized. Date oriented and complex systems also must be identified, prioritized and merged with the critical processes list. The resultant priority list of business processes should drive the test case design effort. There are proven techniques for effective test case design. Black box testing means looking at functionality ... inputs and outputs, the business ... rather than being concerned with "how" the programs do what they do. White box testing looks at the "how" and may be used to supplement black box testing. Black box test case design techniques mainly include equivalence partitioning, boundary analysis, cause-effect graphing, decision tables, and ad-hoc testing. Too many companies focus only on ad-hoc test case design which often leads to inefficient and duplicate testing. Equivalence partitioning and boundary analysis do not address combinations of inputs. Cause/effect graphing provides a problem solving discipline similar to but more powerful than decision tables. Cause/effect graphing results in a high-yield test case set...minimum number of test cases providing maximum coverage without duplication. Cause/effect graphing can be performed manually but is very difficult and time consuming; therefore, automation is recommended. Automated test case design tools are not as common as other test tools, but do exist and should be a part of your Year 2000 tool kit. 2. Capture/Playback Testing Year 2000 changes is a perfect project for capture/playback tools. Year 2000 testing requires three key types of testing: baseline; regression; and future date testing. Repeatability will be utilized in regression testing and several times in future date testing in addition to any reruns following defect fixes. Let's look at how a capture/playback tool supports each type of Year 2000 testing: A. Baseline One must establish a baseline of the current system utilizing the test cases defined in the test case design effort. The capture/playback tool is used to capture today's system, prior to any software changes. This baseline will serve as the expected results for any further testing: regression or future date. B. Regression For regression testing, the Year 2000 software changes are implemented. The same business-critical test cases are rerun with the current date. This validates that: (1) the Year 2000 software changes operate today; and, (2) there are no unexpected changes elsewhere in the system, e.g., nothing has regressed. If you haven't yet established a regression test bed for your systems, here is your opportunity. Not only will these efforts support Year 2000 testing but, as a value-added, you will be able to use this regression testbed on future changes. C. Future Date Year 2000 testing must include testing in the future. The Gartner Group defines this as Time Dimensional testing. Several future dates will need to be tested. All companies will want to test December 31, 1999, January 1, 2000, January 3, 2000, and February 29, 2000, for example. Each company will also want to define the future dates that are critical to their business to include in the future date testing. Test cases will need to be added to the captured test set if not already defined. The captured and any additional test cases will be run at each of the appropriate future dates. This is a big payback in reusability. However, date aging and, perhaps, date format changes, will have to occur on both the inputs and expected results of the test cases. Some capture/playback tools support these needs, with features such as variable processing and global change capabilities. Look for these capabilities when choosing your tool. A strong word of caution regarding Capture/Playback tools. Their failure (i.e. becoming shelfware) comes from the inability to easily maintain (i.e., update to match changing software) the captured test cases. Have any vendor you're talking with SHOW you how you will update your existing test cases before you add it to your tool kit. 3. Date Aging Future date testing (see 2.c) will require the aging of the dates of data. Three types of data will need to be aged...system (the system clock that provides the current date); user input (dates that are keyed in by the user via online screens); and existing data (e.g., databases, tapes, files, parameters). Date aging must consider date business rules and aging dates proportionately. Specific processes such as year-end, month-end, and leap years must be aged properly. Automated date aging tools are hitting the Year 2000 market. Look for proportionate aging capabilities and ease of use. 4. Test Management Analysts are forecasting a litigation nightmare with the arrival of Year 2000. This makes test management, test documentation and audit trails more important than ever. Companies may have to prove in court their efforts to make their systems year 2000 compliant. Many of the capture/playback tools have test management and test reporting capabilities. Look for these in the tool or be prepared to purchase a standalone test management tool. Value Added One last word on test automation. By automating your Year 2000 test efforts, consider the value added beyond this project...you could have an improved structured approach to testing, improved test case design techniques, automated test tools in place and a complete regression test suite to be reused, over and over, on future changes. ======================================================================== SR's Software Quality Portal <http://www.soft.com> TTN-Online readers can take advantage of technical resources at the WWW's Software Quality Portal, -- Your Door to Software Quality -- a collection of resources within the SR website aimed to provide you with with the best and most-current information available. We believed that informed technical decisions are good technical decisions. WWW Resources: HotList Access the Software Quality HotList with over 600 links to the WWW's technical resources in software quality and testing technology <http://www.soft.com/Institute/HotList> Education: Quality Week, Quality Week/Europe: Learn the latest technology at SR/Institute's Quality Week Conferences: Quality Week/Europe '98 (QWE'98), November in Brussels, Belgium. <http://www.soft.com/QualWeek/QWE98> Quality Week '98 (QW'98), May in San Francisco, California; and <http://www.soft.com/QualWeek/QW98> TTN Online: Catch up on the latest events with TTN-Online, published by Email monthly since 1994. The current issue of TTN-Online is always found at: <http://www.soft.com/News/TTN-Online/current.html> An archive of prior issues (back through 1994) is found at: <http://www.soft.com/News/TTN-Online/index.html> You can subscribe to TTN-Online at no charge from the WebSite at: http://www.soft.com/News/TTN-Online/subscribe.html> Reference Material Study the "Top 96" QualitySource technical reference books: <http://www.soft.com/Institute/QualitySource/kits.html> Test Technology Look up test technology terms in SR's TestWorks/Testing Glossary. <http://www.soft.com/Technology/glossary.html> Process Technology Look at SR's unique Quality Process Architecture for an indication of how to rationalize you software quality process. Details are at: <http://www.soft.com/Products/aboutstw.html> TestWorks Test Products Apply TestWorks products and underlying technology to your Windows or UNIX regression or coverage testing needs. Complete product information can be found at: <http://www.soft.com/Products> A summary of FAQ's about TestWorks can be found at: <http://www.soft.com/Technology/faq.html> Complete information and technical help about TestWorks is available from "info@soft.com". ======================================================================== USEFUL INTERNET PROVERBS Here are 25 extremely useful proverbs for everyone who is overwhelmingly, obsessively, totally engaged in surfing the web! 1. Home is where you hang your @ 2. The E-mail of the species is more deadly than the mail. 3. A journey of a thousand sites begins with a single click. 4. You can't teach a new mouse old clicks. 5. Great groups from little icons grow. 6. Speak softly and carry a cellular phone. 7. C: is the root of all directories. 8. Don't put all your hypes in one home page. 9. Pentium wise; pen and paper foolish. 10. The modem is the message. 11. Too many clicks spoil the browse. 12. The geek shall inherit the earth. 13. A chat has nine lives. 14. Don't byte off more than you can view. 15. FAX is stranger than fiction. 16. What boots up must come down. 17. Windows will never cease. 18. In Gates we trust. 19. Virtual reality is its own reward. 20. Modulation in all things. 21. A user and his leisure time are soon parted. 22. There's no place like <http://www.home.com/> 23. Know what to expect before you connect. 24. Oh, what a tangled website we weave when first we practice. 25. Speed thrills. 26. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to use the Net and he won't bother you for weeks. ======================================================================== CALL FOR PAPERS 9th International Workshop on Research Issues on Data Engineering: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR VIRTUAL ENTERPRISES (RIDE-VE'99) March 23-24, 1999 Millennium Hotel, Sydney, Australia http://www.mcc.com/ride99 SCOPE RIDE-VE'99 is the ninth workshop in a series of annual workshops on Research Issues in Data Engineering (RIDE) that are been held in conjunction with the IEEE CS International Conferences on Data Engineering. In 1999, RIDE focuses on Information Technology for Virtual Enterprises, a topic that has been consistently recognized as a key challenge and opportunity in the business world and the supporting information technology. A virtual enterprise is created to provide products and/or services that rely on the resources of multiple enterprises participating in a strategic alliance. Virtual enterprises can take advantage of new market opportunities without the delays, costs, and organizational expansion typically required if the same services and products are produced, sold, and supported by an actual enterprise. However, current Information Technology (IT) solutions developed to support actual enterprises cannot effectively support the information access, payment and billing, customer care, organization structures, and business processes required by virtual enterprises. The objective of RIDE-VE'99 is to bring together researchers, developers, and users working on the issues related to information technology for virtual enterprises. TOPICS OF INTEREST We solicit papers that deal with models and software technology enabling the support of virtual enterprises. Topics include (but are not restricted to): * Virtual Enterprise Models + dominant enterprise and subordinate suppliers + cooperative equal partners + product/service/project-centered virtual enterprise + dynamic/on-demand virtual enterprise * Virtual Information Management Infrastructure + multi-enterprise database management + electronic catalogs, libraries, and yellow pages + composite electronic document management + agent-based information brokering * Virtual Communication and Negotiation Infrastructure + chat rooms and forums + application and whiteboard sharing + virtual conferencing + agreement/contract negotiation protocols and processes + brokering and enforcing service level agreements/contracts * Virtual Business Transaction Infrastructure + encryption + payment and billing + advanced transaction processing * Virtual Product and Service Distribution Infrastructure + electronic software distribution + electronic content distribution * Virtual Process/Workflow Management Infrastructure + hyperprocess models, evaluation, and enactment services + integration of processes in autonomous enterprises + hyperprocess composition and evolution * Related web-based technologies We especially solicit papers from the industry describing ongoing projects novel ideas, products, applications and experience gained. PAPER SUBMISSION Electronic submission will be used. The postscript version of an extended abstract (at most 12 double-spaced pages in fonts not smaller than 11pt, or at most 3000 words) should be submitted to ride99@mcc.com no later than August 28, 1998. If electronic submission cannot be used, please submit six copies of the extended abstract. These should be received no later than August 28, 1998 by the Program Chair: Dimitrios Georgakopoulos MCC 3500 West Balcones Center Dr. Austin, Texas 78759, USA Email: dimitris@mcc.com Phone: (512) 338-3532 Fax: (512) 338-3890 In addition, the authors should submit electronically to ride99@mcc.com a plain ascii cover page containing the paper title, authors' names, contact author and full address (including e-mail and fax) and an abstract of up to 100 words. IMPORTANT DATES Submission of abstracts: Aug 21, 1998 Submission of papers: Aug 28, 1998 Notification of acceptance: Nov 16, 1998 Camera-ready copies: Jan 11, 1999 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE General Chair: Maria Orlowska (U. of Queensland, Australia) Program Chair: Dimitrios Georgakopoulos (MCC, USA) Program Committee (partial): Dave Abel, CSIRO, Australia Karl Aberer, GMD-IPSI, Germany Hamideh Afsarmanesh, U. of Amsterdam, Netherlands Gustavo Alonso, ETH, Switzerland Frank C. Belz, TRW, USA Panos Chrysanthis, U. of Pittsburgh, USA Weimin Du, HP Labs, USA Paul Grefen, U. of Twente, Netherlands Stefan Jablonski, U. of Erlangen-Nuernberg, Germany George Karabatis, Bellcore, USA Zoran Milosevic, U. of Queensland, Australia Anne Ngu, UNSW, Australia Euthimios Panagos, AT&T Labs, USA Hans Schuster, MCC, USA Aphrodite Tsalgatidou, U. of Athens, Greece Jari Veijalainen, U. of Jyvaskyla, Finland Steering Committee: Ahmed Elmagarmid, co-chair (Purdue U., USA) Joseph Urban, co-chair (Arizona State U., USA) Yahiko Kambayashi (Kyoto U., Japan) Marek Rusinkiewicz (MCC, USA) CONFERENCE WEB SITE http://www.mcc.com/ride99 ======================================================================== ------------>>> TTN SUBMITTAL POLICY <<<------------ ======================================================================== The TTN Online Edition is E-mailed around the 15th of each month to subscribers worldwide. 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