Category Archives: software

Comparing Enterprise Testing to Consumer Testing

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Hello, Debug Ducker here. Last post I made was discussing the developer prioritization of quality for an enterprise product compared to a consumer product. The topic got me thinking what other things does a developer need to be concern with when it comes to Enterprise software and consumer software. What ideas or planning needed when it comes to the two.

First the differences are clear when it comes to developing and testing these types of software. For Consumer products you are developing for a large majority and prioritize the experience for an individual user. Enterprises are for mostly organization use, like a company. When making either one needs to think what is the needs for the software. Take consumer products such as photo editing, video editing, spreadsheets, etc. Enterprises product are specific to the organization that may need it to fill a specific purpose. That doesn’t mean that software that can help a business is always an enterprise software, some software is not just useful for the individual but for business like spreadsheets programs.

When it comes to developing the two products different mindsets and thoughts are needed. For consumer, you need to get into the consumers head and think what they may look for in the product. Probably not anything to specific to say but they may look for other things such as price and needs. Enterprises are different in the fact that they wouldn’t mind paying more and would want a degree of quality. I found that enterprise products tend to have more care put into them compare to consumer products but that is probably because a business wouldn’t want to upset a partner. Enterprise may want specifics that they hope the developers may be able to fill and it because of that is why software developers would work closely with business. Think of it as a bonus when it comes to working with Enterprise as it may demand more out of the developer but the advantage is if work closely, you may be able to get stuff done meeting their demands.

Testing for Enterprise software is a lot more complex to. I found some details online that list specific types to look out for.

  • Functionality Testing
    • Testing to see if it passes functionality requirements
  • Usability Testing
    • Test for optimal user experience
  • Security Testing
    • Testing for vulnerabilities
  • Performance Testing
    • Test to see how well it performance
  • Integration Testing
    • test to see if different modules and applications and external system work with it
  • Compliance and Regulatory Testing
    • Test to see if it passes legal and specific industry requirements

These are all the types of testing to look out for, when it comes to enterprises. Not to say the same can’t be done for consumers, though it is a lot more important when it comes to enterprise.

Thank you for your time, have a nice day.

The Ultimate Guide to Enterprise Software Testing – Testlio, 3 Jan. 2025, testlio.com/blog/enterprise-software-testing/.

Nasnodkar, Sid. “Enterprise vs Consumer Product Management.” Product School, 9 Jan. 2023, productschool.com/blog/product-fundamentals/enterprise-vs-consumer-product-management.

Shields, Keith. “Enterprise Software Development vs. Regular Software Development.” Custom Software Development and Mobile App Design, Designli LLC, 1 Mar. 2025, designli.co/blog/enterprise-software-development-process.

From the blog Debug Duck by debugducker and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Customer and Enterprise: Why is one valued over the other

Photo by Anna Nekrashevich on Pexels.com

Hello, Debug Ducker here and have you ever thought how low quality a software you use feels, despite being made by a well known company. This is how I feel when it comes to videos games.

It was a thought that came to me during class when a professor said, if a company release buggy untested software that may ruin the companies reputation. A student ask well what makes the game industry different then. For those in the know the game industry has been plagued with the problem or releasing products in a buggy or half-finished state, that they expect the consumer to buy.

You would think after years of doing such thing, game development companies would be careful about development. Many gamers have criticized this on going problem within the industry and some gaming companies are seen in a poor light, though such reputation never seems to completely ruined them, it does make them less trustworthy. So why are video games different in terms of software testing.

This question kept bothering me, and I brought this up with a friend who may know more. He states that it is because that the consumer is not the most important person to disappoint, that in the software testing field the one who you don’t want to give a poor product or low quality product would be a company or a business. As they aren’t the average customer and have a lot more money to spend.

This is where I did a bit more digging and found out a lot of interesting things when it comes to making a product for the average consumer and making one for a company.

There is a lot of money making a product for a company. The graph from Dells revenue throughout the years showcase how much money can be made in enterprise products

As you can see the commercial products, which are products businesses themselves purchase make most of dell revenue compared to the average consumer. In a way I can see them being prioritized when it comes to reputation, you don’t want to have bad relations with the ones bring in the money.

There is possibly a more logical than financial answer to the question. Consumers are the common people and there are a lot of them. They may have different reactions to the product but since they are so many, there will always be someone willing to buy a product despite the quality. Then comes the company who probably needs the product to do a services and would prefer it thoroughly tested before getting it.

With this I can understand a little of why it is so important to test products in software testing especially when it comes to businesses. We need them for their continued support and they bring in a lot of money.

Admin. “Dell Statistics 2024 by User and Revenue.” KMA Solutions, 22 Apr. 2024, http://www.kma.ie/dell-statistics-2024-by-user-and-revenue/.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Debug Duck by debugducker and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

A License to Develop Software

I read a blog titled “Software License Management” by Samantha Rohn of Whatfix. It dives into the complexities of software licensing, explaining the different types of licenses and their implications. Since I’ve been learning about open-source projects and legal considerations in software development, this blog felt like an essential read. I picked this blog because software licensing is a topic that many developers, including myself, often overlook or misunderstand. In my coursework, we’ve briefly touched on the importance of licenses, but I never fully grasped the differences between them or their real-world applications. As I start working on team projects and open-source contributions, understanding how to navigate licensing is crucial to avoiding legal issues and contributing responsibly to the developer community.

The blog provides an overview of software licensing, emphasizing why it’s critical for both developers and organizations. It categorizes licenses into two main types:

  • Permissive Licenses: These allow more flexibility. Developers can modify, distribute, and use the software with minimal restrictions, often without the need to release their modifications.
  • Copyleft Licenses: These require derivative works to retain the original license terms. For example, modifications to a product under a copyleft license must also be distributed with the same license attached.

The post also introduces the concept of software license management, highlighting the need for organizations to track, organize, and comply with licenses to avoid legal and financial risks. It concludes with best practices for effective license management, such as inventorying all software assets and ensuring compliance with usage terms.

This blog was an eye-opener for me. One thing that stood out was the explanation of copyleft licensing. Before reading this, I didn’t realize how restrictive some licenses could be in terms of sharing modifications. For instance, if I modify software with a copyleft license, I’d have to release my work under the same license, which might limit its use in proprietary projects. This insight made me rethink how I approach licensing for my own projects.

I also found the section on license management practices especially relevant. As developers, we tend to focus solely on the technical aspects of coding and ignore legal considerations. However, knowing how to choose and manage licenses is equally important, especially as I start collaborating on larger projects.

This blog gave me a clearer understanding of how to responsibly use and share code. Moving forward, I’ll make sure to read and understand the terms of any license attached to the libraries and frameworks I use. Additionally, when I create software, I’ll carefully select a license that aligns with my goals, whether for open-source contribution or proprietary use. If you’re new to software licensing or want to understand how to manage licenses effectively, I recommend reading thisblog. It’s a straightforward guide to a topic every developer should know.

Resource:

https://whatfix.com/blog/software-license-management/#:~:text=For%20the%20most%20part%2C%20copyleft%20licensing%20is,with%20the%20source%20product’s%20copyleft%20license%20attached.

Software License Management: An Enterprise Guide

Software License Management: An Enterprise Guide

Software License Management: An Enterprise Guide

From the blog Computer Science From a Basketball Fan by Brandon Njuguna and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

AI Is Not A Software Engineer

In this blog, the author discusses how much the times have changed for new CS graduates. Reminiscing about how little they knew and how easily they got a job. Then talks about how much more prerequisite knowledge is needed to even sniff a job. The topic of the article is how now more than ever it is easier to get code that works. Thanks to AI, code is now more plentiful than it ever was before. However, all code is not good code. This leads to them discussing how despite how much code there is these days. Having people capable of understanding and able to build software are still very necessary. 

Although AI can now code for us, the coding wasn’t the hard part in the first place. The hard part was building software, and making good software. It’s easy to throw a bunch of code snippets together that accomplish something. But it is something entirely different to build specialized software that fills certain functions and meets certain criteria. AI cannot replace people, even though it may take away some jobs. At its heart, AI cannot build unique software. Teams of capable developers are still needed. The nature of how people code is changing. It’s becoming more important to be able to harness AI, but still oversee and build functional software.

I chose this article because I think it relates to team building. Like the article said, you need people who can understand code, not so much write it. Writing code is easier than ever, but finding people who understand how to build software is harder than ever. When using these tools it’s important not to rely on them too much. Discerning who can actually code these days is probably one of the most important skills for employers these days.  I think it’s important for me and everyone to keep in mind that AI is a tool. Tools dont make up for lack of knowledge. Tools are used best by people who know how to use them and maximize their use. One tool can’t solve every single problem. At the end of the day, knowledge is the most important part of being a software developer. 

Citations

https://stackoverflow.blog/2024/06/10/generative-ai-is-not-going-to-build-your-engineering-team-for-you/

By Charity Majors

From the blog CS@Worcester – Code Craft by Kyle Tucker and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Speed Over Design

The following blog I would like to talk about is called “The Hidden Cost of Speed” by Brayden H. Hord. He begins with a quick story about a project he worked on. In this story he describes how he, in an attempt to impress his bosses and meet his co-workers needs, pushed out a product as fast as possible. This worked for the moment. His bosses were happy and he continued his work. However months later, bugs and issues are arriving daily. The software he quickly developed was being used on a daily basis, something he had not anticipated. Now all the shortcuts he had taken earlier had come back to bite him. Now he had something that was being used extensively that was built poorly. 

Now he and his team had to work laboriously to try to fix these fundamental issues. Fixing the problems but also trying to interface between management and stakeholders. The truth is that these problems could have been avoided. If he had better planned and took more time to access the needs and requirements of the project. The moral of the story is that taking time to build right saves headaches down the line. The rest of the blog goes into more detail about why planning and communication are fundamental for all software developers. 

The reason I choose this blog is because I think it highlights one of the most important factors when it comes to software development, Communication. Most software is not built by one person, but rather a team of people. What makes a good team is communication, making sure everyone is on the same page. I think this is important to remember because building without a plan is a recipe for failure. It’s easy to get excited and try to push something that works. But something built on shoddy foundations is always destined to fall. 

Sure your code may work at the moment, but somewhere down the line issues will arise. As needs and more complex architecture is needed, the holes in the code will rear their ugly head. That’s why building code that takes into account not only the needs of now, but also the needs of the future. Building architecture that makes life easier in the future, not harder. I think that this is an important lesson for any software developer to know. Because building something right not only makes your life easier, but everyone else on the team’s lives easier as well.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Code Craft by Kyle Tucker and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Week 14 – Token #2 – CS-343

For this blog, I specifically wanted to look into how this class relates to the preferred field I want to go into, which is Game Design. I wanted to see what kind of languages would be used, what kind of design elements are implemented, and even in the case of frontend vs. backend, how online games employ servers.

However, it seems like I had a misunderstanding that these two positions were similar omewere, as I find many sources that say software design vs. game design are a completely different beast, which only made me more interested. I did some more research, and this lead me to end up reading this article below:

Software Engineer vs Game Developer – Which one is for you?

Specifically I noticed that software development has more rigidity when it comes to designing and delivering a product. Software engineers are usually employed to design a software to meet consumers demands, which usually entails specific features and options they’d want in the software you’re developing. Whereas with game design, you have a much more flexible development cycle, as theres a lot more creativity involved. You’re less focused on making sure specific features are available and more focused on delivering a product that is unique and interesting for consumers, and keeps them engaged.

Game developers also rarely work with programming languages when it comes to development of products. Game developers mainly use engines, which are interfaces that employ programming languages to create building blocks to build off of to create a video game. Software engineers mainly work with the code directly at almost all times, making sre each line is properly written. That’s not to say some game devs don’t work with code directly, some do, and many Triple A companies actually write their own engines using their own code, like in the case of Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, which is used to power their famous game Fortnite.

Something this article notes is that software developers may not need to worry about performance compared to game developers, and I can understand why they might say that. Games rel on having a fluid and enjoyable experience, and that is dependant on the performance of a game, making sure theres no glitches, bugs, or lag. However, I would argue that performance is still a factor within software design too, because what if a simple calculation process in a program takes multiple minutes? Consumers will still have an issue with that. While I do think it’s definitely a lot more important in game development, that’s not to say it’s not unimportant in software design.

And that’s all my blogs for this semester! I’ll be taking another of Professor Wursts classes next semester, so I’ll likely be writing again then. See all you readers come January!

From the blog CS@Worcester – You're Telling Me A Shrimp Wrote This Code?! by tempurashrimple and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

WSU x AMPATH || Sprint Retrospective 6

Sams ShipsHey guys, it’s a weird feeling to be wrapping up my last semester in my undergraduate career in computer science (and sociology). For this final installment of my AMPATH sprint series, I will just go over the general overview of what went on for my team.

Most of our updates went onto our PowerPoint presentation, which is going to be presented on May 15th, 2019. My team and I are looking forward to presenting the overall process of our group’s learning and working process, the many lessons we learned, our advice for future students, the work we tried to implement, and various other technical aspects of our project.

We decided that on top of the search bar work, it is also a priority to organize the git repository so it can be better organized and an open work environment for other classes. I think this is important especially when new people come in and cannot efficiently locate and access the files they need. As someone who was once new to an organization that had a lot of different projects and files to sort through, I believe that this is very considerate of the team to go with this.

With some limitations my team had to face, we worked around it to determine how we should move forward. The end result is pretty much a search bar that is attached to the toolbar. It cannot currently be live tested due to there being no backend but it can definitely be done in the future under certain circumstances.

It was interesting being able to observe how much planning you can start with but still end up having to take detours, starting new paths completely, or sometimes even needing to take U-turns.

I thought it would be important to pull some of the advice for future students from our PowerPoint and include them in this wrap-up:

  • Point out and address problems with technology right away because others around you might have the same problem(s) so you can solve them collectively
  • Do all team implementations in a separate component based on what you will be working on
  • Merge your work constantly to the master branch so each team can have the updated changes

A pattern I am noticing in a lot of teams or group projects is that not everything is going to work out in ways that you expected or were hoping for but you learn to move as a shifting team to make progress and continue growth.

Overall, I’d say I learned an important life lesson from this: if I am to contribute extra time on top of my technology career in the future to work on side projects, it will be a challenge to allocate time if it is a group initiative. I also learned that even when we try to communicate everything there is still more room for miscommunication, so there may be no such thing as over-communicating. I am happy to say that we always tried our best to move forward in all ways!

 

From the blog CS@Worcester by samanthatran and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Find Mentors || S.S. 10

Sams Ships (13)In this final installment of my individual apprenticeship patterns, I think an important one to write about would be Find Mentors. To summarize the main point of this one, I would say that it encourages people to observe their role and their surroundings to see where they can find the most value from learning or use their resources. It encourages you to look at things from one level back instead of blindly jumping into something right away.

Personally, I have been in a role where I had to figure out a lot of things that could have just been taught to me. I quickly learned that I would be able to ask other junior developers how they managed to learn things on their own and it helped me a lot. If other junior developers were not available, then I would work my way up to people who had the most recent on-boarding experience and hope that they could recall the process I was currently going through. For the most part, that worked out well!

Thanks to this pattern, I thought it was useful to think about and remind ourselves that even though our mentors will know a lot more about us, they still do not know everything. They are still continuing to learn as much as we are in their own careers.

I thought I should update this blog to throw in a little hidden announcement if anyone actually reads these that I will be learning at a company with about 100 peers going through the same thing. This makes me feel a lot more confident knowing that I will have a designated support system around me and have mentors around.

Overall, I agreed with the pattern. This is because I can testify with my personal experiences how useful it was to be able to utilize my resources including being able to ask mentors questions or just find my own. A common question I had for my interviewers was, “Will I have a mentor or support system along the way throughout my career progression?” Personally, it is important for me to have a designated place to go for support because it just takes one more worry away about having to ask somebody a question.

It is now time to conclude my individual apprenticeship pattern series! I hope you have at least learned one thing from it because I have learned so many things.

From the blog CS@Worcester by samanthatran and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

WSU x AMPATH || Sprint 5 Retrospective

Sams Ships (14)Over the past two weeks, my team continued to discuss what we are working on as usual. We have come to the conclusion that we will add our Search Bar component once there are updates and more of a base to work off of. This was concluded after we realized that the process would be much more efficient. The parameters and details on the search bar would be harder to figure out without making up a base anyways.

Some advice for others who may be working on the same thing would be to try and collaborate or discuss potential orders between groups if one thing may depend on another. That would make it much simpler from the start if possible so there aren’t any clashes or time wasted on doing extra work that could have just been done by one group or team.

In the meantime, I did a little more research on the AMPATH system out of curiosity since we are going to be building onto their work. I found out that there are 500+ care sites in Kenya! It is interesting to think about the potential impact our work may make on how AMPATH carries out their process. Their initiative reminds me of what Enactus at Worcester State strives for when they work on projects to help people or organizations in the community “sustain their own success, connect them with universal health insurance, train next generation medical professionals, and research new breakthroughs and best practices.” Being able to help a healthcare organization is pretty meaningful, especially as a project through my capstone.

A way to tie our 348 course (Software Process Management) with our 448 (Capstone) course would be through now being able to use Travis CI and Heroku. It was interesting being able to experience using these in class and help our peers use it and now be able to use them in our capstone. I think the practice we got was nice because I found that my peers and I were more comfortable with following steps that were written out and explained to us instead of just “going for it.” I have also noticed that our 348 course helped us pay more attention to how we interact with others, which is very useful for the future when we will be working in teams of developers to create or update new technologies. One more thing which I found useful was seeing Travis CI load, and the race against time when it came to classmates pushing code at the same time; it made me push myself to be a little faster while at the same time not be sloppy about what I was putting into my code.

Overall, we discussed what we will do in these coming weeks as the semester comes to a close. The project we are planning on presenting will feature a search bar which we plan to implement by then. I am excited to see what we end up with in terms of helping AMPATH and their healthcare system!

 

 

From the blog CS@Worcester by samanthatran and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

WSU x AMPATH || Sprint 3 Retrospective

Sams Ships (11)Hey guys! This sprint retrospective will cover what the WSU Coders Without Borders team has done from the week before spring break and up until this week.

As the project is propelling forward even more than before–due to us having more concrete plans to begin working on the project, it has been an exciting transition. We saw our options from Greg’s wireframes and explanations through his YouTube videos. From there, we created Zeplin accounts so we could visually understand and remember certain parts of the app in progress.

Since it was my first time using Zeplin, I wanted to add a little review of it. As someone who loves to organize things, I found that it is a great tool to have for sorting projects and handing off designs and style-guides to other users. It seems like an effective way to share ideas directly with people.

The overall WSU team now has a GitHub section for dividing up the components and issues we will be working on. So far, my team is going to tackle the search bar and everything else it would entail to create. It was nice being able to collaborate amongst one another to find a component that we agreed to work on (and the fact that a few other components had already been assigned to some teams helped our decision be made faster).

From there, we were figuring out what we need to do and how we can get things done. We discussed some potential ideas with Professor Wurst and from there continued to brainstorm for the search bar. There is nothing that comes to my mind that I would have chose to proceeded differently with if I could go back.

We are continuing our meetings as they have been scheduled and are actively participating in our stand-ups. I like being able to scroll through the log of my team’s answers because it shows our progression throughout the semester as well as serving as a reminder of when we did something specifically. I am happy to say that my team does not seem to have run into any issues or potential miscommunication among one another. It really shows how we are all working to achieve something together and effectively communicate what is happening.

In this sprint retrospective I also wanted to discuss how what we learned may be applied in other situations like in the workforce. We have to make sure we are checking in with teammates to have them understand the project more and be able to express their opinions and concerns when they arise. Similar to the bystander effect in psychology, if there is no direct communication between members when it comes to getting things done, how will there be any progression versus just observing what is happening? All it takes is being comfortable to ask different individuals if they have anything to share or add to the open conversation.

Overall, I am excited to move forward and see what is in store for me and my team during these weeks up until the end of the semester!

From the blog CS@Worcester by samanthatran and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.