Week 8: “Women in Testing”

For my week 8 blog post I came across a title that read, “Women in Testing“.  This immediately caught my eye, because I am in fact a women in testing.  The majority of engineers are male, so to see something specifically talking about women was interesting to me.  Software Testing Magazine navigated it’s readers to the Women in Testing website.  The purpose of this website is to increase the visibility of women in the software testing field and help them network.  I really liked the whole idea of this site and thought it was a great way to give women testers the credit they deserve.  Women in the engineering field tend to be extremely overlooked.  This website shines the light on women and gives readers a good indication of what we are capable of.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Alex's Comp Sci Blog by alexsblog13 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

First Software Technical Review

This week in our Software Testing class; we were assigned the task of software technical reviewing some code that was provided by our professor. It was quite exciting since that was the first legitimate testing in a group I have done in my programming career. The concept of software technical review so fairly simple and straight to the point so it was not difficult to dissect what it was that we needed to do in order to effectively review the given code. The outline of the assignment was to first individually review the code by ourselves without discussing our results with other team members. Afterwards, you would then meet up as a whole team and discuss about what each other found in terms of errors and faults within the code. The designated recorder of the group records any changes made during the meeting and compiles together a master list of all of the members’ combined discovery.

Although the testing process itself was new and exciting, there were a couple of complaints I had. The only factor that made the assignment frustrating is that some team members did not individually review the code before the meeting. Due to this, instead of delegating time to discuss our findings, we spent most of the class time waiting for some members to look over the code so we barely had any time to actually discuss as a whole group. Besides that however, it was a fun and memorable new experience in which I learned a lot!

From the blog CS@Worcester – Tan Trieu's Blog by tanminhtrieu and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Bug Hunting

There is many ways to go about looking for bugs, defects present in the software,  obstructing the program from its desired performance.  The presence of the bug decreases the quality of the software. While we build test cases to catch these bugs, you need to make sure you are exploring beyond just what the rules are. Since it is impossible to be 100% bug free, a good tester would know to not always stick with the test strategy and blindly follow it, it might make you unintentionally blind to the real problems. Another thing to do is to keep monitoring the bug catching mechanism, with old tests even helping out. Unless you have prior knowledge of the software, you will not be good at testing it, or be able to gather requirements which is a must for test cases. So instead of waiting for requirements, you could test wrong and inappropriate things to see if the software is producing the right output or not. And even after you have thought that you might have fixed a bug successfully, don’t be happy just yet, note it down because it could become a problem in your code once again, just to come back to bother you again. And testing these bugs more deeply can even reveal more harmful bugs that you didn’t know about before. Most of all, always bug hunt with someone else so they can catch the flaws that you overlook in your own code.

From the blog CS@worcester – CS Blog by Gautam by csblogbyg and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Video Game Testing

For any game, game testing is one of the most important steps. No matter how well a game, a game cannot be good without being thoroughly tested. Expert-level testing is of the highest importance. So while testing, watch out for game authentication challenges (bugs in their authentication modules). This could cause game breaking issues like the game forgetting what data you last saved and having everything vanish in front of your eyes. More problems could be made better by picking the right game engine. With so many engines available pretty much everywhere, it is hard for people to decide, but the best option will be the one that you feel most comfortable working on, the one you are most trained and ready to test. One of the major thoughts going into game testing would be knowing if your game can withstand a heavy, concurrent load or not. Load testing is important before the product’s launch. Your game should be tested to withstand real-time concurrent load, it should be done to achieve consistent performance across all the hardware and software on the platform.

From the blog CS@worcester – CS Blog by Gautam by csblogbyg and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Testing Traps

A blog I read about some software testing traps was pretty interesting. It talked about some common testing traps and how you might be able to overcome them. One of these problems could just end up being tester’s block syndrome, when you just run out of ideas for things to test, making you unable to find bugs. One good way to overcome this is by testing with someone else so they can bounce ideas off of you, when you don’t have any left. Another problem you can run into is when you are so deeply invested in the testing checklist, you fail to notice the small, obvious bugs. Stop following the test cases blindly and try to explore related areas even though they aren’t mentioned and keep your eye open for whatever is happening during test execution. And lastly, sometimes you might come across some issues that you don’t report as bugs or defects because it might not actually be a bug, just something you did wrong, and now it is a problem. The way to overcome this is by letting a pair of fresh eyes look at it. Take a short break and come back to the code, reset and look at it again, to make sure if it is really a bug or not.

From the blog CS@worcester – CS Blog by Gautam by csblogbyg and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Software Project

I figured that I would start a blog about my software
development project that I am doing in coordination with another classmate. I
have to say that I was very excited about this because up until now, aside from
a few projects of my own (small to say the least), I have never been involved
in really working with someone to create something from idea to release. The
finished product will not be complete by the time it is due but we will
continue after classes end to complete it. We are using the agile development
process for the project which is nice because we don’t necessarily have to have
the whole project complete all at once, but instead base it upon what is
important based upon the client’s need and timeframe.
On to the project. We are creating a web application called
Web Hall Pass which is based on a program a teacher at Leicester high school
developed in Visual basic, but wanted it redone in a different language so it
could be used on a server. What the program does is allow students to check out
to the bathroom, principal, gym, nurse, etc. and generate a hall pass either by
printing it or the student can take a picture with their phone via the program
which is running on a computer in the classroom. This is good in that the
student can get up and check out when he/she needs to go somewhere without
interrupting the teacher mid class.
After discussion we chose a PHP web framework called Laravel
that uses the Model View Controller (MVC) architectural pattern. There are some
challenges because neither of us have ever used this before so a lot of reading
and doing tutorials was a necessity. Once we got the basics down, working with
the framework didn’t seem as intimidating. The great thing about Laravel is the
ease of creating tables, and html pages(blades) and how seamless the
integration is between the framework and the database. You run commands using
PHP artisan to create models, controllers, migrations and too much to discuss
here. That being said we have barely scratched the surface of what is capable.
The nice thing about it is that it takes away the daunting tasks that you face
in just using PHP alone. Validation, security, authorization and more is already
taken into account with Laravel, where as in PHP you have to write all of that.


The main thing I think that I see with web frameworks is
that they allow you to go from idea to release faster than ever, and as we all
know time is of the essence.

From the blog format c: /s by c-braley and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Software Project

I figured that I would start a blog about my software
development project that I am doing in coordination with another classmate. I
have to say that I was very excited about this because up until now, aside from
a few projects of my own (small to say the least), I have never been involved
in really working with someone to create something from idea to release. The
finished product will not be complete by the time it is due but we will
continue after classes end to complete it. We are using the agile development
process for the project which is nice because we don’t necessarily have to have
the whole project complete all at once, but instead base it upon what is
important based upon the client’s need and timeframe.
On to the project. We are creating a web application called
Web Hall Pass which is based on a program a teacher at Leicester high school
developed in Visual basic, but wanted it redone in a different language so it
could be used on a server. What the program does is allow students to check out
to the bathroom, principal, gym, nurse, etc. and generate a hall pass either by
printing it or the student can take a picture with their phone via the program
which is running on a computer in the classroom. This is good in that the
student can get up and check out when he/she needs to go somewhere without
interrupting the teacher mid class.
After discussion we chose a PHP web framework called Laravel
that uses the Model View Controller (MVC) architectural pattern. There are some
challenges because neither of us have ever used this before so a lot of reading
and doing tutorials was a necessity. Once we got the basics down, working with
the framework didn’t seem as intimidating. The great thing about Laravel is the
ease of creating tables, and html pages(blades) and how seamless the
integration is between the framework and the database. You run commands using
PHP artisan to create models, controllers, migrations and too much to discuss
here. That being said we have barely scratched the surface of what is capable.
The nice thing about it is that it takes away the daunting tasks that you face
in just using PHP alone. Validation, security, authorization and more is already
taken into account with Laravel, where as in PHP you have to write all of that.


The main thing I think that I see with web frameworks is
that they allow you to go from idea to release faster than ever, and as we all
know time is of the essence.

From the blog format c: /s by c-braley and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Software Project

I figured that I would start a blog about my software
development project that I am doing in coordination with another classmate. I
have to say that I was very excited about this because up until now, aside from
a few projects of my own (small to say the least), I have never been involved
in really working with someone to create something from idea to release. The
finished product will not be complete by the time it is due but we will
continue after classes end to complete it. We are using the agile development
process for the project which is nice because we don’t necessarily have to have
the whole project complete all at once, but instead base it upon what is
important based upon the client’s need and timeframe.
On to the project. We are creating a web application called
Web Hall Pass which is based on a program a teacher at Leicester high school
developed in Visual basic, but wanted it redone in a different language so it
could be used on a server. What the program does is allow students to check out
to the bathroom, principal, gym, nurse, etc. and generate a hall pass either by
printing it or the student can take a picture with their phone via the program
which is running on a computer in the classroom. This is good in that the
student can get up and check out when he/she needs to go somewhere without
interrupting the teacher mid class.
After discussion we chose a PHP web framework called Laravel
that uses the Model View Controller (MVC) architectural pattern. There are some
challenges because neither of us have ever used this before so a lot of reading
and doing tutorials was a necessity. Once we got the basics down, working with
the framework didn’t seem as intimidating. The great thing about Laravel is the
ease of creating tables, and html pages(blades) and how seamless the
integration is between the framework and the database. You run commands using
PHP artisan to create models, controllers, migrations and too much to discuss
here. That being said we have barely scratched the surface of what is capable.
The nice thing about it is that it takes away the daunting tasks that you face
in just using PHP alone. Validation, security, authorization and more is already
taken into account with Laravel, where as in PHP you have to write all of that.


The main thing I think that I see with web frameworks is
that they allow you to go from idea to release faster than ever, and as we all
know time is of the essence.

From the blog format c: /s by c-braley and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Software Project

I figured that I would start a blog about my software
development project that I am doing in coordination with another classmate. I
have to say that I was very excited about this because up until now, aside from
a few projects of my own (small to say the least), I have never been involved
in really working with someone to create something from idea to release. The
finished product will not be complete by the time it is due but we will
continue after classes end to complete it. We are using the agile development
process for the project which is nice because we don’t necessarily have to have
the whole project complete all at once, but instead base it upon what is
important based upon the client’s need and timeframe.
On to the project. We are creating a web application called
Web Hall Pass which is based on a program a teacher at Leicester high school
developed in Visual basic, but wanted it redone in a different language so it
could be used on a server. What the program does is allow students to check out
to the bathroom, principal, gym, nurse, etc. and generate a hall pass either by
printing it or the student can take a picture with their phone via the program
which is running on a computer in the classroom. This is good in that the
student can get up and check out when he/she needs to go somewhere without
interrupting the teacher mid class.
After discussion we chose a PHP web framework called Laravel
that uses the Model View Controller (MVC) architectural pattern. There are some
challenges because neither of us have ever used this before so a lot of reading
and doing tutorials was a necessity. Once we got the basics down, working with
the framework didn’t seem as intimidating. The great thing about Laravel is the
ease of creating tables, and html pages(blades) and how seamless the
integration is between the framework and the database. You run commands using
PHP artisan to create models, controllers, migrations and too much to discuss
here. That being said we have barely scratched the surface of what is capable.
The nice thing about it is that it takes away the daunting tasks that you face
in just using PHP alone. Validation, security, authorization and more is already
taken into account with Laravel, where as in PHP you have to write all of that.


The main thing I think that I see with web frameworks is
that they allow you to go from idea to release faster than ever, and as we all
know time is of the essence.

From the blog format c: /s by c-braley and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Software Project

I figured that I would start a blog about my software
development project that I am doing in coordination with another classmate. I
have to say that I was very excited about this because up until now, aside from
a few projects of my own (small to say the least), I have never been involved
in really working with someone to create something from idea to release. The
finished product will not be complete by the time it is due but we will
continue after classes end to complete it. We are using the agile development
process for the project which is nice because we don’t necessarily have to have
the whole project complete all at once, but instead base it upon what is
important based upon the client’s need and timeframe.
On to the project. We are creating a web application called
Web Hall Pass which is based on a program a teacher at Leicester high school
developed in Visual basic, but wanted it redone in a different language so it
could be used on a server. What the program does is allow students to check out
to the bathroom, principal, gym, nurse, etc. and generate a hall pass either by
printing it or the student can take a picture with their phone via the program
which is running on a computer in the classroom. This is good in that the
student can get up and check out when he/she needs to go somewhere without
interrupting the teacher mid class.
After discussion we chose a PHP web framework called Laravel
that uses the Model View Controller (MVC) architectural pattern. There are some
challenges because neither of us have ever used this before so a lot of reading
and doing tutorials was a necessity. Once we got the basics down, working with
the framework didn’t seem as intimidating. The great thing about Laravel is the
ease of creating tables, and html pages(blades) and how seamless the
integration is between the framework and the database. You run commands using
PHP artisan to create models, controllers, migrations and too much to discuss
here. That being said we have barely scratched the surface of what is capable.
The nice thing about it is that it takes away the daunting tasks that you face
in just using PHP alone. Validation, security, authorization and more is already
taken into account with Laravel, where as in PHP you have to write all of that.


The main thing I think that I see with web frameworks is
that they allow you to go from idea to release faster than ever, and as we all
know time is of the essence.

From the blog format c: /s by c-braley and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.