Automated Software QA/Testing?

nailbite writes "Designing and developing software has been my calling ever since I first used a computer. The countless hours/days/months spent on imagining to actualizing is, to me, enjoyable and almost a form of art or meditation. However, one of the aspects of development that sometimes "kills" the fun is testing or QA. I don't mind standalone testing of components since usually you create a separate program for this purpose, which is also fun. What is really annoying is testing an enterprise-size system from its UIs down to its data tier. Manually performing a complete test on a project of this size sucks the fun out of development. That's assuming all your developers consider development as fun (most apparently don't). My question is how do you or your company perform testing on large-scale projects? Do you extensively use automated testing tools, and if so, can you recommend any? Or do you still do it the old-fashioned way? (manually operating the UI, going through the data to check every transaction, etc.)"

Comments

We do it the old fashioned way

[Anonymous Coward]

We do it the old fashioned way - we don't.

Seriously, why bother?

You're not alone.

[irokitt]

However, one of the aspects of development that sometimes "kills" the fun is testing or QA.

I'm sure that quite a few Microsoft employees agree wholeheartedly.

Laugh, it's good for you.

Why do you think

[Black Noise]

Why do you think g0d made interns?

Re:QA is a separate function

[Anonymous Coward]

I used to work as a QA tester and now I'm the gumpty who admins our source control and build platforms. I used to think our developers were idiots for checking in non-tested code. Now I know better; our developers are morons and regularly check code that doesn't even compile!

Re:You shouldn't be doing it

[jkubecki]

I once worked with a dyslexic drafer. He generally did very good work, except that his drawings often had spelling errors.

Imagine that. A "drafer" who makes spelling errors.

Trained monkeys.

[A.S.]

(And I don't mean developers.)

The solutions to your problem is trained monkeys. it has been shown in trained monkeys that wide-dynamic-range neurons in the cerebral cortex participate in the encoding process by which monkeys perceive (Kenshalo et al., 1988). There has not been so large a demand for the little guys since Mustacioed italians wandered the steets of New York with them almost a centruy ago.

I find that ring-tailed monkeys (from South America, principally Brazil) are the best for software testing. They are usually shipped in lots of twenty-five. They will be classed by customs as with the capuchin, which means the value-add taxes will be very reasonable.

If you are having trouble importing primates, you can always try checking local campuses for desperate college students. They may not be good at sitting still for verylong, but their wages will be even lower than the monkeys.

Thanks for the tip.

[Futurepower(R)]

Drop "it." from the URL to get rid of /.'s stupid new color scheme

Thanks for the tip. Whoever designed the new scheme probably has to have his wife pick out his clothes for him, so the colors will match.