Testing strategies for complex environments |
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| 30 Oct 2009 | SearchSoftwareQuality.com |
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Unless you live in a sci-fi novel,
there's one rule of thumb for any new
place you go: some things are different;
some are the same. Usually, success,
fun or survival in that new place
depends upon how well you handle
the differences. In this issue of
SearchSoftwareQuality.com's Software
Testing Ezine, the new "places"
are a service-oriented architecture
(SOA) and an agile software development
environment.
Examining the ins and outs of software
testing in SOA environments in
"An SOA view of testing," consultant
Mike Kelly focuses on the "subtle differences."
What's the same is that
testers here must start with the
basics. In SOA, the basics are connectivity,
basic capacity, and authorization
and authentication—not that different
from other environments. The
level of complexity of data models,
however, is very different from that of
other architectures and requires some
new methods of testing.
While agile development requires
different testing methods than the
waterfall model, those differences lie
as much in human behavior as in
technology, according to consultant
Karen N. Johnson in "Agile testing
strategies: Evolving with the product."
Agile is a more collaborative process
and calls for seizing "iterations as a
chance to evolve test ideas," Johnson
writes. Fundamental testing tasks, like
exploratory and investigative testing,
stay the same, but the productivity of
completing those jobs can increase.
Johnson and Kelly discuss the finer
points of testing in agile and SOA,
respectively, in this issue's articles.
They also describe revelations they've
had while working in those environments
and best practices they've
learned and continue to use.
The theme of connectivity runs
through these discussions of SOA and
agile testing, as the former focuses on
system connectivity and the latter on
human collaboration. Both approaches,
when done well, can help development
and IT organizations achieve
lower costs and better software.
Download Software Testing: New software testing technologies bring new challenges, Vol. 1.
Download Software Testing: Testing strategies for complex environments: Agile, SOA, Vol. 2.
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