home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!nntp.cs.ubc.ca!newsflash.concordia.ca!snoopy.risq.qc.ca!charlie.risq.qc.ca!53ab2750!not-for-mail
- From: raymond.rivest@crim.ca (Raymond Rivest)
- Newsgroups: comp.software.testing,comp.software-eng,comp.answers,news.answers
- Subject: comp.software.testing Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Followup-To: comp.software.testing
- Organization: CRIM Centre de tests du logiciel
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- Summary: read me before posting to comp.software.testing
- Keywords: FAQ, software testing, software engineering, archives,
- conferences, books, periodicals, products, organizations
- X-Disclaimer: Approval for *.answers is based on form, not content.
- Lines: 1355
- Message-ID: <70Q_9.29065$LR3.1246006@charlie.risq.qc.ca>
- Date: Sat, 01 Feb 2003 13:32:51 GMT
- NNTP-Posting-Host: 132.218.30.61
- X-Trace: charlie.risq.qc.ca 1044106371 132.218.30.61 (Sat, 01 Feb 2003 08:32:51 EST)
- NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 01 Feb 2003 08:32:51 EST
- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu comp.software.testing:50010 comp.software-eng:106765 comp.answers:52728 news.answers:245703
-
- Archive-name: software-eng/testing-faq
- Posting-Frequency: monthly
- Last-modified: 2002/08/06
- Version: $Revision: 3.9 $
- Maintainer: cst-faq@crim.ca
- URL: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/software-eng/testing-faq/
- http://www.crim.ca/ctl/cst.FAQ.html
- http://www.cigital.com/c.s.t.faq.html
-
- comp.software.testing FAQ
- and information resource
-
- This is the Frequently Asked Questions list for comp.software.testing.
- This FAQ is cross-posted to comp.software-eng. Please don't hesitate
- to send corrections, additions, and other comments to
- cst-faq@crim.ca.
-
- Be sure to use the tag of FAQ: in the subject line, for example,
- "Subject: FAQ: Modification request...."
-
- The latest version of this FAQ may be retrieved using Usenet, the World
- Wide Web, ftp, email, gopher, or even telnet. See the FAQ "Introduction
- to the *.answers newsgroups" in news.announce.newusers or
- <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/news-answers/introduction>
- for details. Please check the date above - if this file is more than a
- month old, it is obsolete. The main ftp site for the FAQ is
- <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/software-eng/testing-faq>.
-
- The folks at CRIM Software Test Center sponsor a web site
- for the FAQ at http://www.crim.ca/ctl/cst.FAQ.html.
- The folks at Cigital sponsor a web site for the FAQ, at
- <http://www.cigital.com/c.s.t.faq.html>.
-
- This file is Copyright 2001, 2002 by Raymond Rivest. Danny R. Faught is the
- original author. Permission is granted to distribute this file unedited
- and in its entirety, provided the "Date" header is no more than one month
- earlier than the date of distribution. This information is provided
- without any express or implied warranty.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 1. Table of Contents
-
- 1. Table of Contents
- 2. Change Log
- 3. What is this newsgroup about?
- 4. Netiquette
- 5. Beta testing
- 6. What other FAQs are relevant?
- 7. What other resources are available?
- 8. World Wide Web resources
- 9. What's the difference between QA and testing?
- 10. I'm looking for a test tool...
- 11. How do I find information about testing object-oriented programs?
- 12. How do I test web-related applications?
- 13. What is black box/white box testing?
- 14. What are unit, component and integration testing?
- 15. What's the difference between load and stress testing ?
- 16. Should we discuss bug tracking tools in this newsgroup?
- 17. What kind of salary should a tester make?
- 18. Where can I find sample test plans?
- 19. What is the best tester to developer ratio?
- 20. Conferences
- 21. Periodicals
- 22. Books
- 23. Bibliographic resources
- 24. Organizations
- 25. Contributors
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 2. Change Log
-
- This section will highlight notable additions, deletions, and changes to
- the FAQ.
-
- Changed in version 3.:
- o Some minor cosmetic changes.
- o Added CRIM STC in section 24.
-
- Changed in version 3.8:
- o Added Extreme Programming mini-FAQ link in section 6.
-
- Changed in version 3.7:
- o Finally cleaned up Danny's e-mail to tejasconsulting :)
- o Removed "The Outlook" is no longer available from McCabe? (subject 22).
- o Added a commercial newsletter to subject 22: The Payne Report,
- http://www.cigital.com/paynereport/.
- o Changed the comp.software.config-mgmt url to
- http://www.daveeaton.com/scm/PMTools.html.
- o Added http://www.QALinks.com and http://www.TestingFAQs.org
- in subject 8.
- o Added Die Software Testing Website http://www.softwaretesting.de
- in suject 8.
- o Added LogiGear web page at http://www.qacity.com/ in subject 8.
- o Added Tejas Software Consulting Newsletter in subject 21.
- o Added a new subject tag in section 4 (netiquette) for job searcher (CV:).
- o Added a link to http://www.xprogramming.com/software.htm
- in subject 7 about eXtreme programming and testing.
- o Added two references about security testing in subject 7.
- o Added Quality Web Systems by Elfriede A. Dustin/Douglas McDiarmid
- in subject 12.
- o Updated a broken link for http://www.asq.org/pub/ in subject 21
- o Added a quick reference defining what is a "smoke test" in subject 7.
-
- Changed in version 3.6:
- o Changed reference from www.dejanews.com to groups.google.com.
- Google acquired dejanews !
-
- Changed in version 3.5:
- o Inserted a new Section 15 and moved the rest downward.
- What's the difference between load and stress testing ?
-
- Changed in version 3.4:
- o Reordered the Table of Content. Section 7 to 4, 10 to 5 and moved the
- rest downward to explain the purpose of comp.software.testing from
- the start.
- o Changed references of Danny Faught's FAQs from his home page to
- http://www.testingfaqs.org/ in Section 10 (a forgotten link).
- o Added TESTCOM conference to Section 19.
- o Added reference to the defect tracking tool FAQ in Section 15.
- o Added StickyMinds.com in Section 8.
- o Added a book reference in Section 12.
- o Added the StickyMinds.com template section in Section 17
- o Added a reference to comp.software.measurement newsgroup in
- Section 7.
-
- Changed in version 3.3:
- o Added the mention of subject tag for cst-faq alias because of spams.
- o Changed references of Danny Faught's FAQs from his home page to
- http://www.testingfaqs.org/
- o Added reference to BetaSoft's QAForums in section 5.
-
- Changed in version 3.2:
- o Changed references of Danny Faught's FAQs to his home page.
- o Changed Danny Faught's email.
- o Added LatinStar 2001 conference.
- o Changed STQE booklist to stickyminds.
- o Added a new URL for the html FAQ.
-
- Changed in version 3.1:
- o Changed references of cst-faq@cigital.com to cst-faq@crim.ca.
-
- Changed in version 3.0:
- o Head FAQ maintainer responsibilities transferred from Danny Faught to
- Raymond Rivest. Have fun with it, Raymond!
-
- Changed in version 2.7:
- o Delegated some items to Cigital's SRM Hotlist, so I don't have to
- maintain them in two different places. This includes the list of mailing
- lists (subject 5), web pointers and dates for conferences (subject 19),
- and the entire book list (subject 21). This will also help to make the
- FAQ somewhat less bulky.
- o Removed the Triangle Quality Council, which is being phased out.
- Also removed Association for Software Testing Australia, which no
- longer seems to exist. (subject 23)
-
- Changed in version 2.6:
- o Reliable Software Technologies is now Cigital, Inc. Changed all
- RST references to Cigital.
- o Reflected the change from American Programmer to Cutter IT Journal.
- (subject 20)
- o Removed information about the cst-improve list, which is no longer
- in use. (subject 5)
- o Updated contact information for Software Practitioner. (subject 20)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 3. What is this newsgroup about?
-
- If you're new to Usenet, please read through the FAQs in
- news.announce.newusers and hang out in news.newusers.questions for a
- while before you consider posting.
-
- If you do not know how to subscribe to comp.software.testing, you
- first need to get Usenet access from an Internet service provider or
- your company, and you need newsreader software. Different service
- providers support different newsreaders, so there is no general
- answer. Ask your service provider or local system administrator to
- help. If all else fails, use a web browser to access Usenet at
- <http://groups.google.com/groups
- ?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&group=comp.software.testing>.
-
- The original charter for comp.software.testing can be found at
- <http://tsunami.jpl.nasa.gov/TEL/docs/cst-charter.html>. Here's an
- excerpt (with corrections):
-
- CONTENTS:
-
- For the purpose of this discussion, we will assume that a system is
- composed of hardware, software, people, and procedures. The
- proposed group should be chartered to include discussions
- characterized by the following list of subjects, compiled from
- preliminary discussions:
-
- system test automation
- system test planning
- system test optimization (e.g. minimize regression testing)
- test tools
- test metrics
- measurement technology
- nature of testing under various development models
- (e.g. object-oriented, real time, etc...)
- testing in a rapid prototyping environment (i.e. sans spec)
- relationship of various classes/types of tests to requirements, ...
- conference and symposium announcements
- the definition of "software testing" and its relationship to
- SQA and debugging.
- requirements traceability
- risk-based testing
- the most useful form of specifications and functional
- requirements from the tester's point of view.
- testing techniques, e.g., structured testing using control
- flowgraphs and basis path testing, equivalence class
- partitioning, boundary value analysis, cause-effect graphing,
- path predicate testing, data flow testing, program slices,
- data object state and usage analysis, data flow anomaly
- analysis, and sensitivity analysis.
- test coverage criteria, e.g., statement (C0), path, branch (C1),
- module (S0), and call-pair (S1) coverage criteria.
-
- All levels of testing for both hardware and software should be
- considered appropriate subject matter. While it is likely that the
- group will take on a software flavor early on, we should try to
- generate interest and input from people with hardware and system
- testing experience and perspective. It is especially important that
- we foster discussion of *system* level testing issues, since this
- is the weakest area of our collective knowledge.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 4. Netiquette
-
- Did I mention that you should read the FAQs in news.announce.newusers if
- you haven't done so lately? Also, you can reduce the chances of
- embarrassing yourself by reading comp.software.testing for a while
- before posting. At the very least, scan all the articles in the group
- currently on your server to make sure your question hasn't already been
- asked and answered.
-
- Please help the newsgroup's participants find articles in the categories
- they're interested in. If your posting falls into the categories below,
- please put the three-letter tag at the beginning of your subject line.
- This will also increase the likelihood that those wanting to read your
- post will find it. For example, your subject line might read -
- "Subject: ADV: Widget Tester 6.0 released".
-
- JOB: Help wanted ads
- ANN: Announcements for new books, publications
- CFP: Call for papers or participants
- CNF: Conference announcements
- ADV: Other advertisements and commercial product announcements
- CV: Curriculum Vitae, looking for a job
-
- Job postings that are cross-posted to the various job-related
- newsgroups should not be posted to comp.software.testing, since the
- subject conventions for those groups do not allow them to be easily
- identified as job postings, and the misc.jobs FAQ
- (<ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/jobs/welcome-faq>)
- specifies that job postings should not be cross-posted between the
- job-related newsgroups and non job-related newsgroups.
-
- Some recruiters refuse to follow the job posting policy. If you don't
- want to read job postings, consider using a kill file to
- systematically kill articles from these recruiters.
-
- Many questions about a particular test tool only interest those readers
- who use that tool. Please make sure to put the name of the test tool
- in the subject line so readers can select the articles they read by
- looking at the subject. In general, please use a descriptive subject
- line.
-
- If you post an article and later decide you shouldn't have posted it,
- please cancel it. It is much better to correct the problem than to
- send *another* post to apologize for the first one. Situations where
- this would be appropriate include posting empty articles, multiple
- copies of the same article, and any goof where you'd like to correct
- something you posted shortly after it was sent. Look in your
- newsreader documentation for help with cancelling an article; some also
- have a "supercede" feature which makes it easy to correct a posting.
-
- While the cancel feature has been common for quite some time, some
- newer newsreaders unfortunately do not offer it. If this is the case,
- complain to the author, and consider using a more reasonable
- newsreader. Here's a manual method to cancel an article - start to
- follow up to the errant posting. Change the subject to
- "cmsg cancel <message-id>", where message-id is taken from the
- References: header or the attribution. The body of the message is not
- important. Post it, and the news system should interpret it as a
- cancel request rather than a real posting. You can only do this for
- an article you posted yourself.
-
- People have also expressed concern about postings that are totally
- off-topic. These postings are typically "spam" postings that go to most
- of the thousands of newsgroups that exist. There is very little that an
- unmoderated group can do proactively to prevent them. See
- news.admin.net-abuse.usenet and
- <http://www.tezcat.com/~gbyshenk/ive.been.spammed.html> for more
- information.
-
- Please don't post test messages to comp.software.testing. This group
- is for discussing software testing, not for testing your news
- software. If you want several automatic confirmations that your post
- worked, post a test message to misc.test. There are other test groups
- at various levels of the news hierarchy that all end in ".test". It's
- best to try a local one first.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 5. Beta testing
-
- Discussions about managing a beta test program are within the scope of
- this newsgroup. However, companies looking for beta testers, and
- aspiring beta testers looking for something to test, should go to
- comp.sources.testers instead. A possible exception is test tool
- vendors looking for beta testers.
-
- If you are looking for a career in software testing,
- comp.software.testing will welcome you. Just don't call it "beta
- testing". Beta testing is typically conducted by end users of a
- software product who are not paid a salary for their efforts.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 6. What other FAQs are relevant?
-
- Danny Faught maintains the following FAQs, originally created by Brian
- Marick:
- Testing Contractors and Consultants List
- Testing Courses List
- Testing Tool Supplier List
-
- These FAQs are available at <http://www.testingfaqs.org/>.
- Please consult the appropriate FAQ before asking questions about the
- information already contained therein. The Testing Tool Suppliers List
- also contains a nice list of the available software test tools. If you
- see anything that needs to be changed or added to these FAQs, please
- contact Danny Faught at faught@tejasconsulting.com so that they
- may continue to be useful to everyone.
-
- Since software testing is a subdiscipline of software engineering,
- you will probably find the FAQs posted to comp.software-eng useful.
- They can be found at <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.software-eng/> or
- <http://www.qucis.queensu.ca/Software-Engineering/>
-
- The Problem Management Tools (bug tracking) FAQ is posted to
- comp.software.config-mgmt, and is also available on news.answers and
- the rtfm archives. The URL is
- <http://www.daveeaton.com/scm/PMTools.html>.
-
- Rick Hower maintains the "Software QA/Test Resource Center" at
- <http://www.softwareqatest.com>. It covers a broad range of
- questions about software testing.
-
- Related to new trends, eXtreme Programming, here's the mini-FAQ:
- <http://www.jera.com/techinfo/xpfaq.html>.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 7. What other resources are available?
-
- The public comp.software.testing archives and the mailing list
- gateway are no longer available. As an alternative, try Google groups at
- <http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&group=comp.software.testing>
- Comp.software.testing articles are archived back to March, 1995.
-
- If you're interested in quality measures (metrics), than
- <news:comp.software.measurement>will interest you. However, I didn't
- find any FAQ for this newsgroup.
-
- If eXtreme testing is of interest, than
- <http://www.xprogramming.com/software.htm> will interest you.
- See also Ronald E. Jeffries's article at
- <http://www.xprogramming.com/publications/SP99%20Extreme%20for%20Web.pdf>
- http://www.cigital.com/hotlist/publications-ml.html>.
-
- BetaSoft hosts Web forums on most popular testing tools and techniques
- at <http://www.qaforums.com/>.
-
- A hot topic is network security. Here are two pretty good references for testing.
- <http://www.ideahamster.org/> <http://www.itprc.com/security.htm>
-
- A quick reference explaining what is a "smoke test" can be found at
- <http://www.construx.com/stevemcc/bp04.htm>.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 8. World Wide Web resources
-
- Here are a few web sites that each try to connect you to much of the
- software testing and quality information that is available on the web.
-
- The Cigital Software Risk Management Hotlist
- <http://www.cigital.com/hotlist/>
- http://www.mtsu.edu/~storm>
- http://www.soft.com/Institute/HotList/>
-
- Kerry Zallar's software testing page
- <http://www.testingstuff.com/>
-
- Bret Pettichord's Software Testing Hotlist
- <http://www.io.com/~wazmo/qa/>
-
- StickyMinds.com Software Testing Area
- <http://www.StickyMinds.com/>
-
- Betasoft QA Links page
- <http://www.QALinks.com>
-
- Danny Faught's testing faqs page
- <http://www.TestingFAQs.org>
-
- Die Software Testing Website
- <http://www.softwaretesting.de>
-
- This website has lots of articles, book reviews, software testing related
- software for download and a discussion forum. Most of the website is in
- german language. All contents can be accessed free of charge.
-
- LogiGear's QACity.Com : Resources for Busy Testers
- <http://www.qacity.com/>
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 9. What's the difference between QA and testing?
-
- Sharon Codrington asks:
-
- Please enlighten this young QA person as to the difference between
- QA & Testing. Am I right in thinking that QA is more a preventive
- thing, ensuring quality in the company and therefore the product
- rather than just testing the product for software bugs?
-
- And Bret Pettichord answers:
- DING. DING. DING. You are correct.
-
- Most testing jobs I see are nevertheless advertised as "QA". Some people
- suggest that QC is a better set of initials to describe testing.
-
- Don Mills writes:
- In my courses and my practice, I stick to the ANSI/IEEE
- definitions, which agree with what is generally held *outside* the
- software arena. The definitions boil down to:
- * TESTING means "quality control"
- * QUALITY CONTROL measures the quality of a product
- * QUALITY ASSURANCE measures the quality of processes used
- to create a quality product.
-
- Rick Hower addresses this question at
- <http://www.softwareqatest.com/qatfaq1.html>.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 10. I'm looking for a test tool...
-
- Did you read the Testing Tool Suppliers FAQ at
- <http://www.testingfaqs.org/>? It has a list of many of the
- available tools, plus a list of the commercial tools listings. While
- every question about test tools isn't answered there, it's a good start,
- and it'll at least allow you to ask a more directed question if you do
- post a question about test tools.
-
- When you do post a tools question, you should expect a few "check out
- my company's tool" responses from a few vendors. This rarely gives
- you any more information than is available in the tools FAQ, and which
- vendors respond at any given time varies widely. Often you'll find a
- vendor trying to drum up interest by posting the same thing in
- response to every current article that mentions tools. Keep in mind
- that your choices are much broader than those that happen to get
- posted.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 11. How do I find information about testing object-oriented
- programs?
-
- Based on information originally provided by Brian Marick:
-
- Books that include some discussion of testing OO programs:
- Binder, _Testing Object-Oriented Systems_
- Jacobson, _Object-Oriented Software Engineering_
- Marick, _The Craft of Software Testing_
- McGregor, _Object-Oriented Software Development_
- Siegel, _Object Oriented Software Testing_
-
- There are a vast number of articles about testing OO programs. I
- suggest starting with the September 1994 Communications of the ACM,
- which is devoted to this topic. Chase references. The February 1996
- issue of Object has a piece on system testing with use cases.
-
- Conferences like STAR and Quality Week and Pacific Northwest Software
- Quality Conference seem to always have papers on this topic. I
- suggest going to a conference and buttonholing people.
-
- Web sites with discussion:
- <http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/gmurphy/testSTApp.html>
- <http://www.testing.com/>
- <http://www.toa.com>
-
- Courses on testing object-oriented code (one by Robert Binder,
- one by Ed Berard) are described in the Testing Courses FAQ. Also,
- a new addition is an offering from Software Quality Engineering.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 12. How do I test web-related applications?
-
- Rick Hower maintains a web page which includes a nice list of web
- testing tools, and some guidelines for testing web sites.
- <http://www.softwareqatest.com/qatweb1.html> Please contact him at
- rickhower@earthlink.net if you can offer additions or corrections to the
- list.
-
- One book that can be of help, "Testing Applications
- on the Web" by Hung Q. Nguyen and "The Web Testing Handbook"
- by Steven Splaine and Stefan P. Jaskiel.
-
- One recent addition is Quality Web Systems by Elfriede A. Dustin/Douglas McDiarmid.
- <http://www.StickyMinds.com/books.asp>
- It also contains a Tool Evaluation appendix, comparing the
- major tools (Mercury, Rational, Empirix, Compuware, Segue).
- This matrix consists of approx. 30 pages of detailed
- evaluation criteria.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 13. What is black box/white box testing?
-
- Black-box and white-box are test design methods. Black-box test design
- treats the system as a "black-box", so it doesn't explicitly use
- knowledge of the internal structure. Black-box test design is usually
- described as focusing on testing functional requirements. Synonyms for
- black-box include: behavioral, functional, opaque-box, and
- closed-box. White-box test design allows one to peek inside the "box",
- and it focuses specifically on using internal knowledge of the software
- to guide the selection of test data. Synonyms for white-box include:
- structural, glass-box and clear-box.
-
- While black-box and white-box are terms that are still in popular use,
- many people prefer the terms "behavioral" and "structural". Behavioral
- test design is slightly different from black-box test design because
- the use of internal knowledge isn't strictly forbidden, but it's still
- discouraged. In practice, it hasn't proven useful to use a single test
- design method. One has to use a mixture of different methods so that
- they aren't hindered by the limitations of a particular one. Some call
- this "gray-box" or "translucent-box" test design, but others wish we'd
- stop talking about boxes altogether.
-
- It is important to understand that these methods are used during the
- test design phase, and their influence is hard to see in the tests once
- they're implemented. Note that any level of testing (unit testing,
- system testing, etc.) can use any test design methods. Unit testing is
- usually associated with structural test design, but this is because
- testers usually don't have well-defined requirements at the unit level
- to validate.
-
- Definitions of these terms can be found in these references:
-
- Beizer, _Black Box Testing_, p. 8.
- Beizer, _Software Testing Techniques_, pp. 10-11.
- Daich, et al., _STSC Software Test Technologies Report_, pp. 198, 206.
- Kaner, et.al., _Testing Computer Software_, Second Edition, pp. 41-43.
- Mosley, _The Handbook of MIS Application Software Testing_, pp. 68-76.
- Myers, _The Art of Software Testing_, pp. 8-11.
- Wilson, _Unix Test Tools and Benchmarks_, pp. 298, 306
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 14. What are unit, component and integration testing?
-
- The following definitions are from a posting by Boris Beizer on
- the topic of "integration testing" in the c.s.t. newsgroup.
-
- The definitions of integration tests are after Leung and White.
- Note that the definitions of unit, component, integration, and
- integration testing are recursive:
-
- Unit. The smallest compilable component. A unit typically is the
- work of one programmer (At least in principle). As defined, it does
- not include any called sub-components (for procedural languages) or
- communicating components in general.
-
- Unit Testing: in unit testing called components (or communicating
- components) are replaced with stubs, simulators, or trusted
- components. Calling components are replaced with drivers or trusted
- super-components. The unit is tested in isolation.
-
- component: a unit is a component. The integration of one or more
- components is a component.
-
- Note: The reason for "one or more" as contrasted to "Two or
- more" is to allow for components that call themselves
- recursively.
-
- component testing: the same as unit testing except that all stubs
- and simulators are replaced with the real thing.
-
- Two components (actually one or more) are said to be integrated when:
- a. They have been compiled, linked, and loaded together.
- b. They have successfully passed the integration tests at the
- interface between them.
-
- Thus, components A and B are integrated to create a new, larger,
- component (A,B). Note that this does not conflict with the idea of
- incremental integration -- it just means that A is a big component
- and B, the component added, is a small one.
-
- Integration testing: carrying out integration tests.
-
- Integration tests (After Leung and White) for procedural languages.
- This is easily generalized for OO languages by using the equivalent
- constructs for message passing. In the following, the word "call"
- is to be understood in the most general sense of a data flow and is
- not restricted to just formal subroutine calls and returns -- for
- example, passage of data through global data structures and/or the
- use of pointers.
-
- Let A and B be two components in which A calls B.
- Let Ta be the component level tests of A
- Let Tb be the component level tests of B
- Tab The tests in A's suite that cause A to call B.
- Tbsa The tests in B's suite for which it is possible to sensitize A
- -- the inputs are to A, not B.
- Tbsa + Tab == the integration test suite (+ = union).
-
- Note: Sensitize is a technical term. It means inputs that will
- cause a routine to go down a specified path. The inputs are to
- A. Not every input to A will cause A to traverse a path in
- which B is called. Tbsa is the set of tests which do cause A to
- follow a path in which B is called. The outcome of the test of
- B may or may not be affected.
-
- There have been variations on these definitions, but the key point is
- that it is pretty darn formal and there's a goodly hunk of testing
- theory, especially as concerns integration testing, OO testing, and
- regression testing, based on them.
-
- As to the difference between integration testing and system testing.
- System testing specifically goes after behaviors and bugs that are
- properties of the entire system as distinct from properties
- attributable to components (unless, of course, the component in
- question is the entire system). Examples of system testing issues:
- resource loss bugs, throughput bugs, performance, security, recovery,
- transaction synchronization bugs (often misnamed "timing bugs").
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 15. What's the difference between load and stress testing ?
-
- Boris Beizer says:
-
- > One of the most common, but unfortunate misuse of terminology
- >is treating "load testing" and "stress testing" as synonymous. The
- >consequence of this ignorant semantic abuse is usually that the system
- >is neither properly "load tested" nor subjected to a meaningful stress
- >test.
- >
- >1. Stress testing is subjecting a system to an unreasonable load
- >while denying it the resources (e.g., RAM, disc, mips, interrupts,
- >etc.) needed to process that load. The idea is to stress a system to
- >the breaking point in order to find bugs that will make that break
- >potentially harmful. The system is not expected to process the
- >overload without adequate resources, but to behave (e.g., fail) in a
- >decent manner (e.g., not corrupting or losing data). Bugs and failure
- >modes discovered under stress testing may or may not be repaired
- >depending on the application, the failure mode, consequences, etc.
- >The load (incoming transaction stream) in stress testing is often
- >deliberately distorted so as to force the system into resource
- >depletion.
- >
- >2. Load testing is subjecting a system to a statistically
- >representative (usually) load. The two main reasons for using such
- >loads is in support of software reliability testing and in
- >performance testing. The term "load testing" by itself is too vague
- >and imprecise to warrant use. For example, do you mean representative
- >load," "overload," "high load," etc. In performance testing, load is
- >varied from a minimum (zero) to the maximum level the system can
- >sustain without running out of resources or having, transactions
- >suffer (application-specific) excessive delay.
- >
- >3. A third use of the term is as a test whose objective is to
- >determine the maximum sustainable load the system can handle.
- >In this usage, "load testing" is merely testing at the highest
- >transaction arrival rate in performance testing.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 16. Should we discuss bug tracking tools in this newsgroup?
-
- Discussing bug tracking tools is not within the original charter of
- comp.software.testing. The comp.software.config-mgmt newsgroup seems
- to have taken this topic under its wing. That group has a FAQ for
- problem management tools. See the "What other FAQs are relevant?"
- section for details.
-
- Danny Faught maintains a FAQ under is wing for defect-tracking tools
- at http://www.testingfaqs.org/t-track.htm.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 17. What kind of salary should a tester make?
-
- Salary information is available at <http://www.pencom.com/industry.html>
- and <http://www.computerjobs.com/salary_survey_search.cfm>. A nice
- summary of the various surveys that are available is at
- <http://www.ondaweb.com/sti/salary.htm>.
-
- John Tyson writes:
- > You could check the May '95 issue of Application Development Trends
- > magazine. The article "Testing moves from purgatory to profession" by
- > Linda Hayes [lghayes@metronet.com] has an excellent all-around
- > (non-technical) article on testing and does include some regional
- > salaries (albeit very general).
-
- John also encourages testing consultants to report their rates at
- Janet Ruhl's Computer Consultant's Resource Page -
- <http://www.realrates.com>.
- http://qualityprogress.asq.org/qp/nov97.html>
- > to order a back issue.
-
- Mark McWhinney writes:
- > You might not want to use the survey results. While they are helpful
- > for defining an organization's general pay scales, they are not very
- > useful on a case by case basis. There are too many factors involved
- > that may push a particular employee's base salary significantly above
- > or below the average or outside the range.
- >
- > For QA and test people, these surveys are even more a problem. QA and
- > test people are second-class citizens. They are paid less than their
- > counterparts in development. In part this is due to the fact that QA
- > and test people tend to be less senior and less experienced, therefore
- > deserving of less pay. I have no problem with that. However,
- > developers and testers with equivalent skill, education, and experience
- > are not paid the same. This is wrong....
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 18. Where can I find sample test plans?
-
- See the following IEEE standards:
- 829-1983 IEEE Standard for Software Test Documentation
- 1008-1987 IEEE Standard for Software Unit Testing
- 1012-1986 IEEE Standard for Software Verification and Validation Plans
- 1059-1993 IEEE Guide for Software Verification and Validation Plans
-
- You can contact the IEEE in the US at 800-678-4333. Also, Requisite
- (800-732-4047) sells a Standards Pack with Microsoft Word Templates for
- 829, 830, and 1012 (part number 3100-05879). The Software Productivity
- Center (<http://www.spc.ca>, 604-662-8181) sells Word templates,
- including a test plan standard and a test plan template.
-
- Several people recommend Kaner's book, _Testing Computer Software_, for
- test plan samples. You'll find the ETET test plan in
- <ftp://ftp.ecs.soton.ac.uk/pub/etet/etet1.10.3.tar.Z> under the path
- "doc/testplan". See <http://www.acomtech.com/testplan.html> for an
- adaptation of IEEE 829. And visit
- <http://members.tripod.com/~bazman/frame.html> for a sample system test
- plan. There is an outline of an IEEE based test plan on
- <http://www.itc.nrcs.usda.gov/sqa/tst_outline.html>.
-
- StickyMinds.com also have a template section for test documents at
- <http://www.stickyminds.com/swtest.asp?btntopic=tem&Function=Search
- &topcat=SWTST>.
-
- Information in this section was gleaned from posts by: Burt Gearhart,
- Wayne Woodruff, Brent Parsons, Castor Fu, Michele Mercer, Barry
- Dorgan, and others.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 19. What is the best tester to developer ratio?
-
- Reported tester:developer ratios range from 10:1 to 1:10.
-
- Jeremy L. Mordkoff writes:
- > There's no simple answer. It depends on so many things, I can't even
- > list them all. Amount of reused code, number and type of interfaces,
- > platform, quality goals, etc.
- >
- > It also can depend on the development model. The more specs, the less
- > testers. The roles can play a big part also. Does QA own beta?
- > Do you include process auditors or planning activities?
-
- Boris Beizer adds:
- > These figures can all vary very widely depending on how you define
- > "tester" and "developer". In some organizations, a "tester" is anyone
- > who happens to be testing software at the time -- such as their own. In
- > other organizations, a "tester" is only a member of an independent test
- > group.
- >
- > It is far, far, better to ask about the test labor content than it is
- > to ask about the tester/developer ratio. The test labor content, across
- > most applications is generally accepted as 50%, when people do honest
- > accounting. For life-critical software, this can go up to 80%.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 20. Conferences
-
- For further information about the conferences listed here and others,
- see the Conferences section of the SRM Hotlist at
- <http://www.cigital.com/hotlist/conferences.html>.
-
- Opinions in this section are by Boris Beizer.
-
- All of these conferences have published proceedings. Generally,
- materials presented at these conferences and in their proceedings lead
- the publication in regular journals (above) by about 2-3 years.
-
- 1. International Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis (ISSTA)
- theory, academic, leading edge practitioners (see 3b in the
- periodicals section.) Now transitioning to a summer conference that
- will alternate with ICSE. Sponsored by ACM and ACM's SIGSOFT.
-
- 2. International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE). Spring,
- world-wide. Technical. Primary source after ISSTA for leading edge
- results.
-
- 3. Quality Week (QW). Annual, San Francisco Bay Area. Biggest
- Conference on Testing and QA. Typically 700+. Many vendors. Good
- balance between technical/theoretical and practitioners. Very broad
- base. Workshops. Sponsored by Software Research Institute,
- qw@soft.com, 800-942-SOFT, 415-957-1441.
-
- Quality Week Europe (QWE) is held in Brussels, Belgium in November.
-
- 4. Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference (PNSQC). Annual,
- Portland Oregon, October. Definitely not a regional conference,
- despite the name. Very broad from technical/research to
- practitioners. A shade more academic and leading edge participation
- than quality week.
-
- 5. International Conference and Exposition on Testing Computer Software
- (TCS). Less technical and more practitioner/management than Quality
- Week. Smaller, 400+. Workshops. 17th annual conference was June
- 12-15, 2000, in Washington, D.C. Presented in cooperation with the
- ACM SIGSoft, ASQ Software Division, IEEE Reliability Society, and
- Software Technology Support Center.
-
- 6. Software Testing, Analysis, and Review (STAR). Software Quality
- Engineering. STAR East is in Orlando in May, and STAR West is on
- the east coast in the fall. About the same target as the
- International Conference (5) above. Comparable level and interest.
- Workshops. SQE 1-800-423-8378.
-
- 7. QAI International Software Testing Conference. More of a
- tutorial/workshop than a conference. Newbie orientation. Fall,
- Orlando, Florida. Quality Assurance Institute, 407-363-1111.
-
- 8. IEEE Compsac, world-wide, various locations. Fall. Typical IEEE
- technical conference with a substantial number of papers of direct
- interest to testing and QA. Not as many as IEEE Software
- Engineering, though.
-
- There are about a dozen other annual conferences with a substantial
- testing content: Korea, Japan, Germany, to name a few. In addition,
- there are about two-dozen "conferences", privately sponsored by various
- individuals and organizations. These are not real conferences in that
- there is no formal review process. Speakers are invited by the
- conference organizer. Often, a heavy tutorial content. These are
- usually small (under 100 participants, very few vendors). They range,
- depending on the organizer, from superb to fair-value, to outright
- rip-off. Sorry. I won't play 20 questions on this one.
-
- (end of Beizer's comments)
-
- Also of note:
-
- International Conference on Software Quality (ICSQ), sponsored by
- the Software Division of the ASQ.
-
- International Symposium on Software Reliability Engineering (ISSRE),
- sponsored by IEEE.
-
- International Software Assurance Certification Conference (ISACC),
- "The Software Risk Management Conference." ISACC is an
- international conference in an annual series to be devoted
- exclusively to the topic of software certification.
-
- International Conferences on Practical Software Quality / Testing
- Techniques (PSQT and PSTT). Two conferences a year, one in Minnesota
- and one further south. Managed by Software Dimensions.
-
- Software Testing Analysis & Review Europe (EuroSTAR).
-
- Software Testing Analysis & Review Latin American (LatinSTAR)
- in March 20-23, 2001.
-
- The IFIP 14th International Conference on
- Testing of Communicating Systems
- Berlin, Germany, March, 19th - 22nd, 2002
- http://www.fokus.gmd.de/events/testcom2002
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 21. Periodicals
-
- Comments in this section are by Boris Beizer
-
- 1. IEEE TSE (Transactions on Software Engineering). Monthly.
- The most prestigious journal for testing stuff. Volume 1 number 1
- published the landmark article by Goodenough and Gerhart. Almost
- every issue since has had papers on testing and quality
- assurance. I have all the issues back to V1 #1. Much of that
- stuff is still relevant.
-
- 2. ACM TOSEM (Transactions on Software Engineering Methodology).
- Quarterly. Relatively new journal (1992). Has prestigious
- editorial board. Somewhat more theoretical than IEEE TSE.
-
- 3a. ACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes. (from the Special Interest
- Group on Software Engineering). Monthly. Goes back to May 1976.
- This is the place where people publish stuff to stake out claims.
- It is not as strictly refereed as IEEE TSE or TOSEM, but some
- overview is provided to keep out the obvious crap. Important because
- there is a two or three year waiting list for publication in IEEE SE
- or ACM TOSEM. People who know this field read ACM SIGSOFT for
- advanced information on what will be published "officially" in IEEE
- SE and ACM TOSEM. You read an article and contact the author
- directly for more information.
-
- 3b. ISSTA conference proceedings. Annual. (Known as TAV in the past --
- and possibly new name changes in the offing.) ISSTA is the
- theoretical/academic conference devoted to testing. This is the
- most prestigious place to publish new results in testing theory and
- software reliability theory.
-
- 4. IEEE Software. Six times a year. Rarely the latest stuff. More
- like surveys and overviews once a subfield has become established.
- Refereed, generally high standards. Mostly overviews, but
- occasionally new stuff.
-
- Additional comments from Scott Killops:
-
- You might mention in your blurb about 'IEEE Software' the
- regular "Quality Time" feature. This is wide ranging and
- generally quite useful. I've often thought that a collection
- of all of the "Quality Time" articles published to date would
- make a worthwhile book.
-
- 5. Software Testing, Verification, and Reliability. Quarterly.
- International journal published by John Wiley and Sons.
- Prestigious international editorial board. High quality original
- articles and excellent surveys. Comparable in scope to IEEE TSE
- and ACM TOSEM, but sharply focused on testing, verification, and
- reliability. ISSN 0960-0833.
-
- <http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/users/mrw/stvr.main.html>
- <http://www.wiley.com/>
- info@qm.jwiley.com, cs-journals@wiley.co.uk
- John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Professional, Reference and Trade Group
- 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158-0012
-
- 6. ACM Computing Surveys. Quarterly. Not specific to testing and QA,
- but contains the most prestigious survey articles in the field,
- typically only when a subfield is well established. The authors are
- usually authorities. Articles are long and comprehensive. When an
- ACM Survey on a topic appears, it usually means that the field has
- matured to the point where it is possible to write meaningful books.
-
- Volume 29, #4, December 1997, contains the most comprehensive survey
- of testing research ever published--"Software Unit Test Coverage and
- Adequacy", Hong Zhu, Patrick A. V. Hall, and John H. R. May, pages
- 366-427. The bibliography contains 221 entries. Anyone interested
- in understanding the technical/research literature of software
- testing should start with this survey.
-
- 7. Communications of the ACM. Monthly. Survey articles and overviews.
- Sometimes (rarely) original stuff. More academic and
- foundational/theory oriented than IEEE Software, but generally the
- same level. Doesn't publish too much on testing.
-
- 8. Cutter IT Journal (formerly American Programmer). Monthly.
- Cutter Information Corp., 37 Broadway, Suite 1, Arlingon MA
- 02474, phone 781-641-5118. Private journal with prestigious
- editorial board. Non-technical, philosophical and overviews.
- Management orientation. Essentially a good newsletter.
- <http://www.cutter.com/itjournal>
-
- 9. Software Testing & Quality Engineering. Bi-monthly. Software
- Quality Engineering, sqeinfo@sqe.com, 800-423-8378, fax
- 904-268-0733, phone 503-829-6806, <http://www.stqemagazine.com/>.
- Formerly called Software QA magazine and Software QA Quarterly.
-
- 10. The Software Practitioner. Newsletter, 6 times a year.
- Computing Trends, 1416 Sare Rd., Bloomington IN 47401. Robert
- L. Glass - Editor-in-Chief, rlglass@acm.org. Non technical,
- management, overviews. Not too much on testing.
- http://SoftwarePractitioner.com/
-
- 11. Crosstalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering. 6 times a
- year, free. Software Technology Support Center, Ogden AFB UT 84056.
- 801-777-8057. Heavy DoD orientation. Practitioner/Management/
- Philosophical. Broad based on software engineering, including IV&V.
- http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/CrossTalk/crostalk.html>
- custserv@software.hill.af.mil.
-
- 12. Other journals. I'm sure I've offended several editors. There are
- journals concerned with testing, QA, and software engineering
- published in Japan, Korea, Germany, and Australia. Other journals,
- such as IEEE Transactions on Computers, IEEE Transactions on
- Reliability, ACM SIGPLAN, ACM SIGARCH, ACM SIGSIM, ACM SIGMETRICS,
- ACM OOPSLA, all publish material of interest to testing from time to
- time, especially insofar as hardware testing results and theory
- apply to software testing; also language issues vis-a-vis testing.
-
- (end of Beizer's comments)
-
- The American Society for Quality has begun publication of Software
- Quality Professional. This journal will span the
- body of knowledge for the Certified Software Quality Engineer.
- <http://www.asq.org/pub/>
-
- Commercial newsletters - the newsletters below are available for free to
- potential customers and some provide very good technical content.
-
- Quality Techniques Newsletter (QTN), formerly Testing
- Techniques Newsletter (TTN). Monthly, in electronic
- form only. Software Research, Inc., 415-957-1441,
- 800-942-SOFT. Send "subscribe" in the body of a message
- to qtn@soft.com.
- <http://www.soft.com/News/QTN-Online/>
-
- The Payne Report, http://www.cigital.com/paynereport/
-
- Tejas Software Consulting Newsletter, emailed monthly. See
- <http://tejasconsulting.com/#news> for archives and to get a free
- subscription.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 22. Books
-
- Books relevant to software testers are listed in the Books section of
- the SRM Hotlist at <http://www.cigital.com/hotlist/publications-books.html>.
-
- See also <http://www.StickyMinds.com/> under "Books" for Software
- Testing and Software Quality Engineering's book list, formerly
- known as the SingleSource Guide. See the misc.technical.books FAQ
- <http://www.faqs.org/faqs/books/technical/> for contact
- information for technical book publishers. Comp.software.testing readers
- have recommended Reiter's Scientific and Professional Books
- <http://www.reiters.com> and Fatbrain.com <http://www.fatbrain.com/>.
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 23. Bibliographic resources
-
- Comments by Boris Beizer.
-
- 1. ACM Computing Reviews. Monthly. The primary review journal. Most
- good papers on testing and quality assurance are eventually reviewed
- here. Extensive evaluations and criticisms by excellent reviewer
- pool. <http://www.acm.org/reviews/>
- http://www.acm.org/catalog/journals/107.html>
-
- Also, some books have large bibliographies that are very useful, such as
- those in Software Testing Techniques and Testing Computer Software.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 24. Organizations
-
- The organizations below are devoted to software testing or quality, or
- have special interest groups with such a focus. National and
- International organziations are listed first, followed by local
- organizations.
-
- National/International
- ----------------------
-
- American Society for Quality
- 611 E. Wisconsin Ave.
- P.O. Box 3005
- Milwaukee, WI 53201-3005
- 800-248-1946, 414-272-8575
- <http://www.asq.org>
-
- The ASQ (formerly ASQC) administers the CQE (Certified Quality
- Engineer) and CSQE (Certifified Software Quality Engineer)
- designations.
-
- The ASQ press has many titles that may be of interest to software
- testers. Stolen from a conference announcement:
-
- > Founded in 1946, the American Society for Quality (ASQ)
- > provides a variety of professional, educational, and informational
- > programs reflecting the changing needs of business and industry.
- > Headquartered in Milwaukee, WI, ASQ has been the leading quality
- > improvement organization in the United States for almost 50 years.
- > The Society is composed of more than 135,000 individual members and
- > 1,000 sustaining members worldwide. ASQ's vision is to be the
- > world's recognized champion and leading authority on all issues
- > related to quality. The mission of ASQ is to facilitate
- > continuous improvement and increased customer satisfaction by
- > identifying, communicating, and promoting the use of quality
- > principles, concepts, and technologies.
-
- ASQ's Software Division
-
- > ASQ's Software Division is comprised of [sic] more than 5,000 members
- > including software quality professionals and software engineers
- > interested in applying quality principles to the field of software
- > development. The Division develops a software engineer
- > certification program, publishes a quarterly newsletter, works with
- > the Software Quality System Registration Committee on establishing
- > an ISO 9000 Software Registration Program in the United States,
- > interacts with other professional software organizations such as
- > the IEEE and the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery), and is
- > involved in many other activities.
-
- <http://www.asq.org/about/divtech/softdiv/swqweb.html>
-
- October is National Quality Month (in the U.S.), as decreed by
- Ronald Reagan in 1984.
-
- Quality Assurance Institute
- 7575 Dr. Phillips Blvd., Suite 350
- Orlando Florida 32819
- Phone: 407-363-1111
- Fax: 407-363-1112
- <http://www.qaiusa.com/>
-
- The QAI publishes The Journal of the Quality Assurance Institute
- monthly.
-
- They provide CQA certification. Steve Driscoll wrote:
-
- > The CQA is someone who has demonstrated a mastery of the Common
- > Body of Knowledge(CBOK) for ensuring the quality of systems (which
- > often include software). While ISO-9000 is considered part of the
- > CBOK, it's actually independent of the CQA designation (there is a
- > certification program for ISO auditors).
- > ... while my life is still pretty much the same as it was prior to
- > obtaining the CQA designation, I found that the reading and
- > studying to prepare for the exam extremely beneficial in my duties
- > as a Quality Analyst. I recommend it to anyone who is interested
- > in producing quality software (which includes developers as well
- > as quality analysts).
-
- Society for Software Quality
- > Vision - To be recognized as the Society for those interested
- > in promoting "quality" as a universal goal for software.
- >
- > Mission - Promote "quality" as a desirable attribute of software.
-
- PO Box 86958
- San Diego, CA 92138-6958
- 619-297-1544
- <http://www.ssq.org/>
-
- Software Process Improvement Network
- > The Software Process Improvement Network is comprised of
- > individuals who want to improve software engineering practice. The
- > individuals are organized into regional groups called "SPINS" that
- > meet and share their experiences initiating and sustaining software
- > process improvement programs. They meet annually at the SEPG
- > (Software Engineering Process Group) Conference, which is
- > co-sponsored by the SEI and a regional SPIN.
- (from the web page)
-
- <http://www.sei.cmu.edu/collaborating/spins/spins.html>
-
- British Computer Society
- Software Testing BCS Specialist Group
- > The Group has a number of full-day meetings per annum and is host
- > to the international conference on software testing - EuroSTAR. It
- > is producing a standard on component testing and has a sub-group on
- > Statistical Testing Methods. A full library of testing-related
- > material is available at meetings.
- >
- > It promotes awareness of testing, competence in the field, and
- > encourages research.
- (from the web page)
-
- <http://www.bcs.org.uk/siggroup/sg55.htm>
-
- Chinese Association for Software Quality (CASQ)
- This association is formed to share information and experiences
- amongst its members and people on software quality engineering.
-
- <http://www.casq.org>
- casq@newcastle.ac.uk
-
- Swedish Association for Software Testing (SAST)
- SAST is a non-profit organisation with members from all different
- companies that are interested in Software Testing within Sweden.
-
- The purpose of SAST to improve status of Software Testers and
- Software Testing, through informal education and exchange of
- information. Since this is a Swedish organization most activities
- are in Swedish. If you are interested you are welcome to contact
- Lise-Lotte Karlsson Boman (lise-lotte.karlsson-boman@posten.se) or
- Jan Warg (jan@warg.se).
-
- <http://public-www.pi.se/~sast>
-
- TestNet
- TestNet is a Special Interest Group in Software Testing with over 400
- members of over 150 companies and organisations mainly in the Netherlands
- (although there are a few members from Belgium). The meetings and
- news-items are in Dutch.
-
- > The purpose of TestNet is the professionalization of testing IT products,
- > and an increase in the awareness and the importance of testing as a
- > profession in its own right. TestNet stimulates the exchange of
- > professional knowledge and practical experience amongst testers, and
- > stimulates research, from a scientific standpoint as well as from a
- > practical perspective.
- (from the web page)
-
- If interested or for information contact at secretaris@testnet.org
-
- <http://www.testnet.org>
- testnet@testnet.org
-
- CRIM Software Test Centre
- CRIM is a transfer and liaison centre with fifteen years'
- experience in leading-edge information technologies and
- computer application sectors.
-
- CRIM Software Test Centre (STC) helps big or small businesses
- and other kinds of organizations boost product quality, cut
- risk and optimize investments. Technologically, CRIM STC
- pinpoints the strengths and weaknesses of software applications
- based on pre-established criteria. CRIM STC may also recommend
- various ways of improving and optimizing the product testing
- and development processes.
-
- <http://www.crim.ca/en/index.epl?selec=a000&href=/en/ctl/index.htm>
- Local organizations
- -------------------
-
- Most of the organizations above sponsor local organizations. Contact them
- to find local organizations near you. In this section you'll find local
- organizations that don't appear to have a national affiliation.
-
- The Software Quality Institute At UT
-
- (stolen from a conference announcement)
- > The Software Quality Institute (SQI) at The University of Texas at
- > Austin is a multidisciplinary partnership between UT-Austin and the
- > software and information systems industries in Texas. It is
- > recognized as a leading authority on and champion for software
- > quality. SQI was founded in 1993 for the purpose of strengthening
- > organizations to compete more successfully in global markets
- > through sponsorship of seminars and conferences. An advisory group
- > of 24 industry and academic representatives guides the Institute.
- > Its popular programs include: a 13 week long Software Project
- > Management Certificate Program, one- and two-day seminars offered
- > to the public and as in-company contract courses, our "Software
- > Quality Matters" quarterly newsletter that addresses issues of
- > concern relative to quality issues, sponsorship of monthly forums
- > for discussion of software issues (including the Software Process
- > Improvement Network (A-SPIN), the Austin Software Executives' Group
- > (ASEG), and the Austin Forum for Object-Oriented Technology
- > (AFOOT), and on-line services which include a Worldwide Web
- > Home Page and topical newsgroups.
-
- The web page is <http://www.utexas.edu/coe/sqi/>. The newsgroups
- seem to be reachable only at UT. For information on newsletter
- subscriptions, contact info@sqi.utexas.edu.
-
- Central Ohio Quality Assurance Association
- Mission Statement: To provide and promote continuous quality
- improvement information to software organizations in our
- communities. COQAA is organized to share state-of-the-art quality
- assurance methods, tools, and techniques among its members.
-
- P.O. Box 14191, Columbus, Ohio 43214-0191
- contact: Jerry Fehribach, 614-447-3600, jfehribach@cas.org
- <http://www.coqaa.org>
-
- Australian Software Quality Research Institute
- Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
- <http://www-sqi.cit.gu.edu.au/>
-
- Triangle Information Systems Quality Association (North Carolina)
- http://www.rtpnet.org/tisqa/
- contacts - Dennis Brandel 72652.1146@compuserve.com
- David Wood DAVDWOOD@VNET.IBM.COM
-
- North Carolina Quality Leadership Foundation
- 800-207-5685
- http://www.rtpnet.org/ncqlf/
-
- New England Software Quality Assurance Forum (NESQAF)
- NESQAF is a regional non-profit society created by software quality
- professionals for software quality professionals. Each month,
- professionals from software companies and MIS organizations along
- with other industry experts exchange ideas, principles, and
- experiences on the latest quality assurance techniques and
- technologies. An email distribution list is available.
-
- Monthly meetings in Cambridge, MA.
- Contact - Alan Titelbaum, alan.titelbaum@tfn.com, 617-856-2467.
- <http://www.nesqaf.org/>
-
- Software Testing Institute
- Offers industry research, surveys, publications, online services
- and seminars to software development and testing professionals. A
- list of software testing product vendors, including web site and
- e-mail links, is available from our web site:
-
- <http://www.ondaweb.com/sti>
-
- contact - Susan Archer, Director (sarcher@metronet.com)
- 726 Loganwood Ave., Richardson, TX 75080
- 972-680-8507, fax 972-680-8905
-
- Centre for Software Reliability
- The Centre for Software Reliability (CSR) is a research centre
- within the Department of Computing Science at the University of
- Newcastle upon Tyne; it conducts research on how to achieve
- improved levels of dependability from computing systems.
-
- csr@newcastle.ac.uk
- <http://www.csr.ncl.ac.uk/>
-
- Seattle Area Software Quality Assurance Group (SASQAG)
- Purpose: To Promote Professional Software Quality Practices
- <http://www.sasqag.org/>
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Subject: 25. Contributors
-
- Thanks go to the people who have contributed to the FAQ in various
- ways, including the team of assistant FAQ maintainers - Chris Petrov,
- and Richard de Graaf, and Danny Faught. Email addresses for some of
- those mentioned herein are listed below.
-
- Boris Beizer - bbeizer@acm.org
- Bob Binder - rbinder@rbsc.com
- Richard de Graaf - r.dgraaf1@chello.nl
- Barry Dorgan - bazman@bigfoot.com
- Steve Driscoll - sdriscol@oclc.org
- Sigrid Eldh - Sigrid.Eldh@ehpt.com
- Danny Faught - faught@tejasconsulting.com
- Rick Hower - rickhower@earthlink.net
- Scott Killops - Scott_B_Killops@ccm.jf.intel.com
- Jennifer Larsen - Jennifer_Larsen@datatel.com
- Brian Marick - marick@testing.com
- Mark McWhinney - msm@powertest.com
- Don Mills - donmil@voyager.co.nz
- Jeremy L. Mordkoff - mordkoff@acm.org
- Charles Nichols - nichols@cse.ogi.edu
- Chris Petrov - petrovchris@usa.net
- Bret Pettichord - bret@pettichord.com
- Raymond Rivest - rrivest@crim.ca
- Laura Rose - laura@PACorp.com
- John Tyson - jmt@acm.org
-
-
-
-
-