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Featured Sessions & Speakers
| Wednesday, November 6, 9:15 a.m. |
The Future of Test Automation and Its Impact on You
Alberto Savoia, TestAgility Inc.
Do you think software testing professionals fully leverage the amazing computing power that’s available to them? Are you up to speed on the latest research efforts in software testing? Do you know how advances in test automation will affect your testing career in the years to come? Despite huge increases in computing power and exciting new research, test execution is still the only area where software test automation is used with any consistency. With some rare exceptions, most software tests are still designed, developed, and analyzed manually. Even the very popular capture/playback tools are mostly used to automate the execution of “manually” recorded scripts, using “manually” provided test data. We’ve only scratched the surface of what can, and should be, automated in testing. This presentation shows you how recent advances in software, hardware, and networking will affect test automation over the next several years.
Alberto Savoia has been a pioneer and innovator in software test automation for nearly 20 years. He’s recently co-founded and become CTO of TestAgility, a start-up focused on test automation technology. His previous start-up, Velogic, was the first to introduce Web-based load testing and was ultimately acquired by Keynote Systems. His professional positions include director of software technology research at Sun Microsystems Laboratories, general manager of Sun's SunTest business unit, chief technologist at Keynote Systems, and director of engineering at Google. He is the author of many articles, papers, and patents on software test automation, and has led the design and implementation of several award-winning testing tools.
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| Wednesday, November 6, 10:30 a.m. |
Writing Better Defect Reports Winner: Best Presentation STAREAST 2002
Kelly Whitmill, IBM Printing Systems Division
Why is it some testers get better response from developers than others? Part of the answer lies in their defect reports. But following a few simple guidelines can smooth the way for a much more productive environment. That's because the objective shouldn't be to write the perfect defect report, but to write an effective defect report that conveys the proper message, gets the job done, and simplifies the process for everyone. It's important that you use this report to ask and answer the right questions. Kelly Whitmill gives you a quick mental inspection checklist you can reference each time you write a defect report. You'll walk away with information that can make a significant difference the day you get back to work, on a topic that's often overlooked in the industry.
Kelly Whitmill has more than 18 years’ experience in software testing. During much of that time, his role has been a team lead with responsibility for finding and implementing appropriate methods and tools to accomplish required tests. He’s particularly interested in practical approaches that can be effective in environments with limited resources. He has worked in both small and large company environments, and has worked on PC-based, Unix-based, and mainframe-based projects.
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| Wednesday, November 6, 4:30 p.m. |
Making It Happen ... No Matter What
Edward Kit, Software Development Technologies
The bar hasn't been lowered, but for many the resources have. Increased workloads and frozen spending can challenge any test team. It’s not the best time to change jobs, yet it’s stressful to think of the declining level of quality that may be in your soon-to-be-released product pipeline. But so what? You’re not alone in these challenging times. And you still have to make it happen. So, in today’s climate, part of your unwritten job description is to find more efficient ways to prevent and detect defects before your customers do. In times like these, we need to build on our skills, technology awareness, and confidence. Ed Kit imparts techniques and tips to help you do more with less. You’ll even learn about infrequently marketed — though full-featured — affordable test tool alternatives.
Edward Kit , founder and president of Software Development Technologies, is a recognized expert in the area of software testing and automation. His best-selling book, Software Testing in the Real World: Improving the Process, has been adopted as a standard by companies such as Sun Microsystems, Exxon, Chase Manhattan Bank, and Cadence Design Systems.
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| Thursday, November 7, 9:00 a.m. |
The Power of Modern Testing
Les Hatton, University of Kent
Testing continues to be thought of as the poor neighbor of software engineering. This appears to be due to the occurrence of numerous, well-publicized software failures. Les Hatton takes a closer look at how effective different forms of testing have been in certain areas. He asks why some technologies appear to be more valuable than others, while some seem doomed to be relentlessly ignored. While too many companies still don’t recognize the strategic role of testing — and fail to make sufficient resources available — we seem to be making progress. This provocative presentation shows you what you can do to halt the upwardly spiraling cost of failure.
Les Hatton is an independent consultant in software reliability. He’s also professor of software reliability at the Computing Laboratory, University of Kent, U.K. He changed careers in the 1980s to study the design of high-integrity and safety-critical systems, on which he has been a keynote speaker at numerous software conferences. He has published many technical papers and his 1995 book, Safer C, pioneered the use of safer language subsets in embedded control systems and influenced many later standards including the automotive industry's widely used MISRA-C standard. Les is also the author of numerous software systems documents including the Safer C Toolset based on his published research on direct and indirect defect detection. He was voted among the world's leading scholars of systems and software engineering three times in the last five years by the U.S. Journal of Systems and Software.
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| Thursday, November 7, 3:45 p.m. |
Testing Internet Explorer: From Underdog To Best-In-Class Browser
Jason Taylor, Microsoft
While a test team with world-class automation may not be the only thing standing between your product and success, it’s certainly a step in the right direction. Learn how the Internet Explorer test team grew from its decentralized, manual testing beginnings to a lean, mean automating machine. Jason Taylor shares lessons learned on the frontlines that will help you and your team create test cases that are manageable, reporting that makes sense, and test automation that can think while you sleep. Learn how a combination of smart infrastructure investments, paradigm shifts, and model-based testing turned the Internet Explorer test team into one of the finest at Microsoft.
Jason Taylor is a test architect for the Windows ® client division. His focus has been on security, stability, and tools while shipping Internet Explorer 3 through 6, and Windows 98 through XP. As a test architect he drives the use of model-based testing and strives towards a common test infrastructure for Windows.
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| Friday, November 8, 9:00 a.m. |
How to Break Software
James Whittaker, Florida Institute of Technology
Trying to figure out how you can become a more effective tester? That’s easy: Become a better bug hunter. This tutorial uncovers the root cause of software failure and offers specific, prescriptive strategies you can use to expose bugs — and your system interfaces — to testing scrutiny. James Whittaker shows you examples of real bugs and diagnoses their cause, while giving you the opportunity to ask questions based on your own determinations. He also describes a set of testing techniques designed to help find bugs in your applications more quickly. You’ll even walk away with some fun exercises to help create a better overall testing culture at your company.
James Whittaker is a professor of computer science at Florida Institute of Technology and author of How to Break Software: A Practical Guide to Testing. His interests include software development and testing with a specific emphasis on software security. He runs a research group of hackers, crackers, and testers at Florida Tech, where they specialize in breaking software — and have fun doing it. He regularly consults for major software companies in the United States and Europe.
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