MEE SQA Blog http://blog.meesqa.com Michael E. Ensminger's thoughts on software development, testing and quality assurance Mon, 07 May 2012 04:29:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 en April 2012 mensming Twitter Posts http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/05/06/april-2012-mensming-twitter-posts/ http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/05/06/april-2012-mensming-twitter-posts/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 04:29:21 +0000 mensming http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/05/06/april-2012-mensming-twitter-posts/ Follow mensming on Twitter

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - Software Test Podcast Episode 24 - http://bit.ly/JrlOv8
30 Apr

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - TWiST #93 - SoLoMo, Part I (w/ Matt Johnston) - http://bit.ly/IJIvL6
27 Apr

Geeky trump card game - CPU Wars - http://shop.cpuwarsthegame.com/about
26 Apr

Trustworthy Internet Movement (TIM) - BBC News - Insecure websites to be named and shamed after checks - http://bbc.in/K4XEVR
25 Apr

Gamification comes to learning VIM - VIM Adventures - http://bit.ly/IOLHnC
24 Apr

Bishop claims the Bible can help with password security - http://bit.ly/He9Pxt
23 Apr

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - TWiST #92 - Testing: Wanted Dead or Alive, Part II - http://bit.ly/HWh8Rb
20 Apr

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - Software Test Podcast Episode 23 - http://bit.ly/I1A9yU
19 Apr

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - TWiST #91 - Testing: Wanted Dead or Alive (Part I) - http://bit.ly/JeQe1d
18 Apr

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - Watir Podcast #47 Chuck Van der Linden and Dave McNulla at Test Automation Bazaar - http://bit.ly/JeOBjY
17 Apr

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - Software Test Podcast Episode 22 - http://bit.ly/JeL8lF
16 Apr

Is Learning to Code More Popular Than Learning a Foreign Language? - http://gizmo.do/He9qLA
13 Apr

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - TWiST #90 - Agile Testing and ET, Part II - http://bit.ly/HslvR4
6 Apr

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - RBCS Podcast: Software Testing: Testing Strategies from Around The World - http://bit.ly/HkopXs
5 Apr

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - Software Test Podcast Episode 21 - http://bit.ly/H7BUri
4 Apr

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - TWiST #89 - Agile Testing and ET, Part I - http://bit.ly/H7AfSB
3 Apr

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - TestCast Show #11 Automation Extravaganza - http://bit.ly/H7g5LX
2 Apr

 

]]> http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/05/06/april-2012-mensming-twitter-posts/feed/ Persistent Storage Links from September 2011 Software Engineering Notes http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/04/21/persistent-storage-links-from-september-2011-software-engineering-notes/ http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/04/21/persistent-storage-links-from-september-2011-software-engineering-notes/#comments Sun, 22 Apr 2012 04:19:43 +0000 mensming http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/04/21/persistent-storage-links-from-september-2011-software-engineering-notes/ The following links were published in the September 2011 ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes in the "Surfing the Net for Software Engineering Notes" by Mark Doernhoefer. This issues topic was interfaces.

 

]]> http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/04/21/persistent-storage-links-from-september-2011-software-engineering-notes/feed/ End of Lifecycle (Retirement) Links from July 2011 SE Engineering Notes http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/04/15/end-of-lifecycle-retirement-links-from-july-2011-se-engineering-notes/ http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/04/15/end-of-lifecycle-retirement-links-from-july-2011-se-engineering-notes/#comments Sun, 15 Apr 2012 16:11:26 +0000 mensming http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/04/15/end-of-lifecycle-retirement-links-from-july-2011-se-engineering-notes/ The following links were published in the July 2011 ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes in the "Surfing the Net for Software Engineering Notes" by Mark Doernhoefer. This issues topic was software retirement (end of life).

 

]]> http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/04/15/end-of-lifecycle-retirement-links-from-july-2011-se-engineering-notes/feed/ March 2012 mensming Twitter Posts http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/04/03/march-2012-mensming-twitter-posts/ http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/04/03/march-2012-mensming-twitter-posts/#comments Wed, 04 Apr 2012 03:00:27 +0000 mensming http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/04/03/march-2012-mensming-twitter-posts/ Follow mensming on Twitter

<grin> Server names put the fun in functional - http://bit.ly/xR7XUk
30 Mar

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - Software Testing: Agile Testing Opportunities - http://bit.ly/HgI4Hl
29 Mar

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - Software Test Podcast - Episode 20 - http://bit.ly/HgGmpw
28 Mar

Out of my alma mater UT Dallas - An Academic Adds ‘Enemy’ Feature to Facebook - http://bit.ly/GTZTgV
27 Mar

Seattle: The Next Silicon Valley - http://bit.ly/x0o6LF
26 Mar

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - TWiST #88 - Miagi-do and Self Development, Part II - http://bit.ly/GISXle
23 Mar

This looks overly generalized - The More Facebook Friends You Have, the More Unhappy You Probably Are - http://lifehac.kr/GGB5uF
23 Mar

A privacy Richter scale - http://bit.ly/wdrzsW
22 Mar

Great eBook from my company Conenza on "Community as a Resource" - https://www.conenza.com/ebook
21 Mar

532 Million Status Updates, 864,000 Hours of Video: A Typical Day on the Internet (Infographic) - http://bit.ly/zAE0Ua
20 Mar

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - TWiST #87 - Miagi-do and Self Development, Part I - http://bit.ly/x3FNu4
19 Mar

Estimate: Amazon Cloud Backed by 450,000 Servers - http://bit.ly/yQJe6T
16 Mar

Focus on building 10x teams, not on hiring 10x developers - http://bit.ly/yzO2SA
15 Mar

The risk of relying on another site - Can Sites Rely On Facebook For User Login? http://rww.to/AbnYKV
14 Mar

Finished reading _From Concept to Community: How I Built An Online Community And …_ by April L. Hamilton - http://amzn.to/yVsfj6
13 Mar

Finished reading _Free: The Future of a Radical Price_ by Chris Anderson - http://amzn.to/yW0IQl
12 Mar

Posted Reference - Security Bug Assessment Model - DREAD - http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/10/reference-security-bug-assessment-model-dread/
10 Mar

Posted on http://testingpodcast.com - TWiST #86 - Testing In Production, Part II - http://bit.ly/AdOXWp
10 Mar

What Car Brands Tell Us About Our Political Participation - http://bit.ly/yLOZvX
9 Mar

The Power of the Social Consumer [INFOGRAPHIC] - http://on.mash.to/zI0KEb
8 Mar

The Sad State of Social Media Privacy [Infographic] - http://bit.ly/zO0rgV
7 Mar

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - Software Test Podcast Episode 19 - http://bit.ly/xtRGQo
6 Mar

Small coding mistake led to big Internet voting system failure - http://bit.ly/y8G5bQ
6 Mar

Posted to http://testingpodcast.com - TWiST #85 - Testing in Production, Part I - http://bit.ly/zORWRY
5 Mar

Open source tops proprietary code in quality - InfoWorld - http://bit.ly/zwgt0a
5 Mar

A plea to stop requiring an app to access web content -Technology Review http://bit.ly/wh7RZi
2 Mar

Startup Infrastructure: Who Makes Up the Human Capital? [infographic] - http://bit.ly/zyMqOg
1 Mar

 

]]> http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/04/03/march-2012-mensming-twitter-posts/feed/ Reference - Security Bug Assessment Model - STRIDE http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/24/reference-security-bug-assessment-model-stride/ http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/24/reference-security-bug-assessment-model-stride/#comments Sat, 24 Mar 2012 23:15:24 +0000 mensming http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/24/reference-security-bug-assessment-model-stride/ Before the current focus on security at Microsoft, all security bugs at Microsoft were rated using the DREAD model. (See prior post). Now, Microsoft rates each security bug using the STRIDE model. STRIDE is an acronym that stands for:

  • Spoofing
  • Tampering
  • Repudiation
  • Information Discovery
  • Denial of Service (DoS)
  • Elevation of Privilege (EoP)

 

]]> http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/24/reference-security-bug-assessment-model-stride/feed/ Video Notes - Robert Johnson interviewed at Velocity 2010 http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/19/video-notes-robert-johnson-interviewed-at-velocity-2010/ http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/19/video-notes-robert-johnson-interviewed-at-velocity-2010/#comments Tue, 20 Mar 2012 03:54:15 +0000 mensming http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/19/video-notes-robert-johnson-interviewed-at-velocity-2010/ Robert Johnson interviewed at Velocity 2010
Robert Johnson, Director of Engineering, Facebook
2010 O’REILLY Velocity - Web Performance and Operations Conference
June 22 - 24, 2010
7 min, 4 sec
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXTCPnuDGbg

My Notes:

  • User expectations of mobile in terms of optimization
    • Very little data to answer scientifically
    • Long term need desktop and mobile site performance to come together
  • Need to collect the data before setting benchmarks
  • Acceleration and Business Benefits Research
    • Huge payback for performance improvement
  • Initial thing that a company should do
    • Set benchmarch and understand how user sees the site
    • Keep alives on
    • Compression on
  • Workshop
    • Analyzed Velocity home page
    • Made worse than reality and brought it to current then improved

 

 

]]> http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/19/video-notes-robert-johnson-interviewed-at-velocity-2010/feed/ Reference - Security Bug Assessment Model - DREAD http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/10/reference-security-bug-assessment-model-dread/ http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/10/reference-security-bug-assessment-model-dread/#comments Sun, 11 Mar 2012 03:04:34 +0000 mensming http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/10/reference-security-bug-assessment-model-dread/ Before the current focus on security at Microsoft, all security bugs at Microsoft were rated using the DREAD model. DREAD is an acronym stands for:

  • Damage Potential
  • Reproducibility
  • Exploitability
  • Affected Users
  • Discoverability

When a bug was filed, the bug would be rated from 1-10 in each of these areas.

 

]]> http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/10/reference-security-bug-assessment-model-dread/feed/ February 2012 mensming Twitter Posts http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/05/february-2012-mensming-twitter-posts/ http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/05/february-2012-mensming-twitter-posts/#comments Tue, 06 Mar 2012 04:27:00 +0000 mensming http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/05/february-2012-mensming-twitter-posts/ Follow mensming on Twitter

Posted to testingpodcast.com - Sofware Testing Podcast Episode 18 - http://bit.ly/xqWB4T
28 Feb

Posted to testingpodcast.com - TWiST #84 - Getting Hired, Part III - bit.ly/zWZ9LH
27 Feb

Posted to testingpodcast.com - Software Testing Podcast Episode 17 - bit.ly/yu8d5n
26 Feb

Every Bart Simpson Chalkboard Quote To Date | Geekologie - bit.ly/wHr8RX
24 Feb

INFOGRAPHIC: Why People Hate Their Jobs read.bi/whWbx3
23 Feb

Posted to testingpodcast.com - TWiST #83 - Getting Hired, Part II - bit.ly/x23AYC
22 Feb

Finished reading Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy - amzn.to/AjCgOi
22 Feb

Internet Explorer Performance Lab - bit.ly/wuad9s
21 Feb

Five Leadership Mistakes Of The Galactic Empire - Forbes onforb.es/w24Rhi
20 Feb

RT @Conenza - Our debut blog post is an edgy one by @John_Schroeter ‘7 Reasons for Rethinking Your Facebook Strategy’ bit.ly/yNZcBD
17 Feb

7 Deadly Sins of Automated Software Testing - Adrian Smith bit.ly/yW4wXG
16 Feb

The Staggering Cost Of A Bad Hire [Infographic] - aol.it/AnKzGG
15 Feb

Top ten reasons managers become a**holes - Scott Berkun bit.ly/yEX7Fv
14 Feb

Finished reading _SEO Made Simple_ by Michael H. Fleischner - amzn.to/z1fi0O
13 Feb

Post to testingpodcast.com - Mng Quality within Bdgt and Sched Constraints: Successful and Unsuccessful Techniques - bit.ly/znZtYn
11 Feb

Posted to testingpodcast.com - Twist #82 - Getting Hired, Part I - bit.ly/wo5GtU
10 Feb

Great site for discussing code with others remotely - nopaste.info
10 Feb

My favorite - avoid back scratch recommendations - How To Pimp Your LinkedIn Profile rww.to/wMpecn
9 Feb

Matt Stiles // The Daily Viz ยท FACEBOOK: Who uses it and what are they doing? bit.ly/yzwwvQ
8 Feb

Posted to testingpodcast.com - Software Test Podcast Episode 16 - bit.ly/xE8nL3
7 Feb

Finished reading _Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds_ by Scott Berkun - amzn.to/zjCBC1
7 Feb

Posted to testingpodcast.com - Software Testing Podcasts Episode 15 Part 2 - bit.ly/zYodpa
6 Feb

Just posted to testingpodcast.com - TWiST #81 - Virtualization, Part II - bit.ly/wBOTEK
6 Feb

Posted to testingpodcast.com - TWiST #80 - Virtualization, Part I - bit.ly/yaYCbV
5 Feb

My company - Conenza - is looking for a senior recruiter. Learn more about this position at talentservices.conenza.net/s/4I
4 Feb

Added to testingpodcast.com - Podcasts from softwaretestpodcast.com - bit.ly/y4LgTy
3 Feb

RT @microsoftalumni - In case you missed our 20 seconds of fame, watch the KIRO-TV video where MSA founder speaks about recent job cuts. kirotv.com/news/business/
2 Feb

 

]]> http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/03/05/february-2012-mensming-twitter-posts/feed/ An Old Evaluation of Java Mock Frameworks http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/02/25/an-old-evaluation-of-java-mock-frameworks/ http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/02/25/an-old-evaluation-of-java-mock-frameworks/#comments Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:39:30 +0000 mensming http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/02/25/an-old-evaluation-of-java-mock-frameworks/ I was recently researching various mock frameworks for Java. We settled on mockito. I will post more on mockito at another time.

As I was reading about JMock and EasyMock, I had a sense of deja vu. I came across the following report my team developed over 3 years ago. It appears that the report still appears correct:

Feature JMock EasyMock
Special Test Case Class MockObjectTestCase Not Required
Documentation Decent Very good
Test Method Identification String Actual Method
Arguments matcher - i.e. the way we specify how arguments passed should be matched Hard to use but extremely flexible. Easy to use. Less flexible. But it is possible to create our own argument matchers if the need arises. Since in most cases, we don’t need to use complicated argument matchers this should not be a limitation.
Code completions, Refactorings etc Hard since the actual interface is not used in specifying the mock criteria Works well with most IDEs since the actual interface is used
Ease of use and understanding The expectation setting phase in JMock resembles a specification very closely. But it is cumbersome to have to remember so many method calls and write this explicitly. EasyMock is very easy to use since the actual method is called with the correct parameters during the expectation setting phase of preparing the mock. Since 2.2, EasyMock has become much more literate also with effective use of generics and static imports.

 

]]> http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/02/25/an-old-evaluation-of-java-mock-frameworks/feed/ testing.stackexchange.com - Is there a good tester certification? http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/02/22/testingstackexchangecom-is-there-a-good-tester-certification/ http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/02/22/testingstackexchangecom-is-there-a-good-tester-certification/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:36:57 +0000 mensming http://blog.meesqa.com/2012/02/22/testingstackexchangecom-is-there-a-good-tester-certification/ The following is my response to a question on the now-defunct testing.stackexchange.com. The question was "Is there a good tester certification?" and my answer:

Good for whom?

This tends to be a loaded question with almost religious fervor. Several industry notables have come out strongly against certifications. James Bach posted his objections in a compelling argument. It is a good place to start for the anti-certification argument.

Good for Employers?

As a hiring manager, I have only seen people with certifications listed on their resumes a couple of times. It was an indication that perhaps these individuals are taking an interest in their careers more than just a job. Did the certification sway my opinion of the applicants? No. Just a minor data point.

Good for the Tester?

I do think there can be good from getting a certification for the tester. However, that good does not come from getting the paper that says they are certified. The good comes from reviewing the requirements for the certification, identifying gaps in one’s knowledge, deciding whether it would be good to fill in that gap - it might not, and learning something new so it can be applied to the day to day job.

Good for the Certification Body?

Almost definitely. The certification body gains strength with the number of people who get certified. There have been examples of certifications which are really a mechanism to sell training. It is important to look at the certification body and what their motives are. What is good for the certification body is not necessarily good for the tester nor for an employer.

What is one to do?

First - look at what the certification covers:

Second - Where are you strong? Where are you weak? Are the weaknesses areas where improvement will help you personally and professionally?

Third - Identify for learning and how to fill in the gaps you care about.

Fourth - Decide whether the certification has meaning to you. For some people, working towards the certification is the motivation they need to fill in the gaps.

In any case, if you can speak to the various points covered in a certification and can provide real world example where you have applied the areas of knowledge, you will be able to convince an employer you know your stuff.

 

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