We use it at work (actually, I just got back from spending the entire day working with the software). It works perfectly until you try to "replay" something you have "recorded". Then all hell breaks loose.
They use a kind of "property map" which they use to locate GUI objects. Problem is, the GUI map keeps changing on you because the default properties they pick vary from load to load (especially with the Java add-in, IMHO). Also, it can be very tricky (i.e. almost impossible) to find the right set of properties that will uniquely identify your UI objects, and that won't change from load to load, so that you can successfully regress your software.
Blechhk! Add to that, it costs an arm and a leg.
If I had to make the decision all over again, I would say skip the UI testing, and do unit testing on your classes instead. Then hire some monkeys (verification types) to sanitize the UI part on a semi-regular basis.
I actually asked them about whether they would be supporting 5.5 in the future. They said "3 months from now" (of course, that was at least 3 months ago)..
But needless to say, they have plans to release a connector for 5.5.
Before anyone flames me, I'm a Canuck, born and raised..;)
Personally, I know that Canada as a whole will welcome any of our high tech friends from the States that want to set up shop. In fact, the provinces are practically tripping over themselves trying to attract business with tax breaks for all kinds of things.
We have to resort to such things, as I'm sure a few people have pointed out, it's a bit colder here, eh.
But seriously, the summers can be quite hot, and we actually have ALL 4 SEASONS.. I'm always laughing when some recruiter from the states tries to call me during the summer and uses the "good weather" angle on me. I LOVE Canada's summer, it's hot but not sweltering, and the days are longer because we're further north.
Not to mention the air is cleaner, and you generally don't suffer from the "crush of humanity".. that is, you can always have lots of personal space because there's plenty to go around. I can't say the same for London or New York..
Well, my own opinion is that people living in the states don't know what they're missing. If you don't mind being a little behind in company's release schedules for new technology rollouts -- witness the Palm i705's wireless coverage or lack thereof for Canadian cities -- then Canada's a great place to live!
My $0.02
Take another look at Java + Swing
on
GTK-- vs. QT
·
· Score: 1
Sorry to sound like a Java booster,
But you should really take another look at Java and the Swing toolset. Swing is fully MVC-based (well, MV mostly), has good visual builder tools available, is fast (contrary to popular opinion), and has tons of features, and support from a vibrant community of developers.
Unless you're tied to C++, you should strongly consider this, as porting is (virtually) a no-brainer. In fact, even if you need to use C++ for some parts of your system, it is still possible via JNI to tie these in, and write the GUI in Java.
As far as I know, the only GUI toolset that has more features than Swing is Motif, and that's saying a lot since Motif was under development for years and years.
Furthermore, there are tons of decent components (beans) available, both freely and commercially. Also, tons of documentation exists for this platform, most of it of excellent quality due to the nature of javadoc.
You're doing yourself a disservice if you're ruling it out because you (subjectively) consider it to be slow or otherwise unfit for the job.
Although I initially loved my Aeron chair, I have since found better ones on the market for less money. My chief complaint comes from the tilting (lock) mechanism. I have seen numerous chairs which have this broken (mine included) which have had the gears stripped, and result in tossing the occupant out of the chair backwards, a bit like a bucking bronco, arms and legs akimble..
Aside from keeping an Aeron chair broken in such fashion around as a practical joke (best in the guest lounge for maximum impact), they don't have much uses in my book..
Of course, Herman Miller could make another killing if they offered Aeron chairs in different colors (presumably to match all of the iMacs).. but let's not go there.
Actually, I beg to differ that shutting down Linux unexpectedly is worse than shutting down Windows unexpectedly..
Just yesterday, I finished a complete re-install for my Windows partition (I run a dual-boot system), after an unexpected shut-down resulted in corruption of a number of important.dll and.vxd files. ScanDisk in dos refused to correct the problem- "run the windows version" - I'd love to, but I can't boot into windows!!
I had to get a boot disk, my original CD, and use the "extract" program to get back the original.dlls, but even that wasn't enough. In the end, a complete reformat was required.
Linux on the other hand, seems to always recover fine (although a fsck is run)..
I guess my biggest complaint about Linux's recovery would be fsck, most of the time it works fine (automatically). Every now and then though it dumps you out to a recovery shell, and you have to finish it manually, answering stupid questions like:
move inode 34682 to/lost+found?
How the hell should I know what inode 34682 contains? Don't ask me these questions, just do it!
So I find myself using fsck -y, but then I wonder why this procedure isn't done automatically...
This scenario would be a nightmare for the recently converted windows user.. it REALLY needs to be made more user-friendly..
I actually like to use Linux because it's a free alternative to Windows, which does almost everything Windows does, and in some cases does things better..
If Linux becomes successful in the gaming market, there will be thousands and thousands of people coming on board.. and I will no longer be 1337!!
I guess I'll have to install a different OS then..:)
Language independence? Am I missing something? To me this just isn't a huge draw.
Me coder. Me eat languages for breakfast.
One language is mathemmatically equivalent to the next, they are merely tools. What does it matter if the common runtime supports multiple languages? Most programmers today can switch languages quicker than their clothes.
For me, Language independence isn't as big a draw as the component-based architecture. But then, we had that already with CORBA. Come to think of it, CORBA is already language independent anyway. Also machine independent. Also more mature.
I have to say- SOUND WAVE was the coolest! I mean, a transformer that can transform into a cassette player! AND -- his tapes also transform..
Plus, he had the funkiest voice on the cartoon. I remember buying the toy, and wearing it out from all the transforming I did..
And the triple-changers were pretty cool, too. I don't remember the name of the decepticon plane/tank/robot (the purple one).. but that was sweet! Does anyone know the name of that one?
BTW, $10,000 ?!?!?!?
I wonder how much I could get for just 1 mint condition G1 Megatron (I have it).
I've been reading several comments here which basically denounce Gopher as being useless because "its' old", or "we've moved on".
But, it's like any other tool, we should find the right tool for the right job. If HTML is being extended to do everything AND the kitchen sink, it might not do as good a job as Gopher for particular applications of the technology.
Notice that as new technologies emerge, the likelihood of Gopher finding a niche will increase. Perhaps the boom in wireless devices is such a niche, for instance.
Maybe Gopher isn't behind the times, it may actually be ahead of its time..
In any case, our "consumeristic" society tells us to equate old with bad, and new with good. I urge you to judge something on its merits.
Slashdot Mirror
Ugh!!
Don't use WinRunner..
We use it at work (actually, I just got back from spending the entire day working with the software). It works perfectly until you try to "replay" something you have "recorded". Then all hell breaks loose.
They use a kind of "property map" which they use to locate GUI objects. Problem is, the GUI map keeps changing on you because the default properties they pick vary from load to load (especially with the Java add-in, IMHO). Also, it can be very tricky (i.e. almost impossible) to find the right set of properties that will uniquely identify your UI objects, and that won't change from load to load, so that you can successfully regress your software.
Blechhk! Add to that, it costs an arm and a leg.
If I had to make the decision all over again, I would say skip the UI testing, and do unit testing on your classes instead. Then hire some monkeys (verification types) to sanitize the UI part on a semi-regular basis.
I actually asked them about whether they would be supporting 5.5 in the future. They said "3 months from now" (of course, that was at least 3 months ago)..
But needless to say, they have plans to release a connector for 5.5.
Well, that's easy eh.
;)
.. that is, you can always have lots of personal space because there's plenty to go around. I can't say the same for London or New York..
You spell it C, eh. N eh., D, eh.
:)
Before anyone flames me, I'm a Canuck, born and raised..
Personally, I know that Canada as a whole will welcome any of our high tech friends from the States that want to set up shop. In fact, the provinces are practically tripping over themselves trying to attract business with tax breaks for all kinds of things.
We have to resort to such things, as I'm sure a few people have pointed out, it's a bit colder here, eh.
But seriously, the summers can be quite hot, and we actually have ALL 4 SEASONS.. I'm always laughing when some recruiter from the states tries to call me during the summer and uses the "good weather" angle on me. I LOVE Canada's summer, it's hot but not sweltering, and the days are longer because we're further north.
Not to mention the air is cleaner, and you generally don't suffer from the "crush of humanity"
Well, my own opinion is that people living in the states don't know what they're missing. If you don't mind being a little behind in company's release schedules for new technology rollouts -- witness the Palm i705's wireless coverage or lack thereof for Canadian cities -- then Canada's a great place to live!
My $0.02
Sorry to sound like a Java booster,
But you should really take another look at Java and the Swing toolset. Swing is fully MVC-based (well, MV mostly), has good visual builder tools available, is fast (contrary to popular opinion), and has tons of features, and support from a vibrant community of developers.
Unless you're tied to C++, you should strongly consider this, as porting is (virtually) a no-brainer. In fact, even if you need to use C++ for some parts of your system, it is still possible via JNI to tie these in, and write the GUI in Java.
As far as I know, the only GUI toolset that has more features than Swing is Motif, and that's saying a lot since Motif was under development for years and years.
Furthermore, there are tons of decent components (beans) available, both freely and commercially. Also, tons of documentation exists for this platform, most of it of excellent quality due to the nature of javadoc.
You're doing yourself a disservice if you're ruling it out because you (subjectively) consider it to be slow or otherwise unfit for the job.
:)
Aside from keeping an Aeron chair broken in such fashion around as a practical joke (best in the guest lounge for maximum impact), they don't have much uses in my book..
Of course, Herman Miller could make another killing if they offered Aeron chairs in different colors (presumably to match all of the iMacs).. but let's not go there.
Just yesterday, I finished a complete re-install for my Windows partition (I run a dual-boot system), after an unexpected shut-down resulted in corruption of a number of important .dll and .vxd files. ScanDisk in dos refused to correct the problem- "run the windows version" - I'd love to, but I can't boot into windows!!
I had to get a boot disk, my original CD, and use the "extract" program to get back the original .dlls, but even that wasn't enough. In the end, a complete reformat was required.
Linux on the other hand, seems to always recover fine (although a fsck is run)..
I guess my biggest complaint about Linux's recovery would be fsck, most of the time it works fine (automatically). Every now and then though it dumps you out to a recovery shell, and you have to finish it manually, answering stupid questions like:
move inode 34682 to /lost+found?
How the hell should I know what inode 34682 contains? Don't ask me these questions, just do it!
So I find myself using fsck -y, but then I wonder why this procedure isn't done automatically...
This scenario would be a nightmare for the recently converted windows user.. it REALLY needs to be made more user-friendly..
I actually like to use Linux because it's a free alternative to Windows, which does almost everything Windows does, and in some cases does things better..
If Linux becomes successful in the gaming market, there will be thousands and thousands of people coming on board.. and I will no longer be 1337!!
I guess I'll have to install a different OS then.. :)
Me coder. Me eat languages for breakfast.
One language is mathemmatically equivalent to the next, they are merely tools. What does it matter if the common runtime supports multiple languages? Most programmers today can switch languages quicker than their clothes.
For me, Language independence isn't as big a draw as the component-based architecture. But then, we had that already with CORBA. Come to think of it, CORBA is already language independent anyway. Also machine independent. Also more mature.
Remind me again what the big deal is about? :)
All those Generation-1 transformers.. wow..
I have to say- SOUND WAVE was the coolest! I mean, a transformer that can transform into a cassette player! AND -- his tapes also transform..
Plus, he had the funkiest voice on the cartoon. I remember buying the toy, and wearing it out from all the transforming I did..
And the triple-changers were pretty cool, too. I don't remember the name of the decepticon plane/tank/robot (the purple one).. but that was sweet! Does anyone know the name of that one?
BTW, $10,000 ?!?!?!?
I wonder how much I could get for just 1 mint condition G1 Megatron (I have it).
I've been reading several comments here which basically denounce Gopher as being useless because "its' old", or "we've moved on".
But, it's like any other tool, we should find the right tool for the right job. If HTML is being extended to do everything AND the kitchen sink, it might not do as good a job as Gopher for particular applications of the technology.
Notice that as new technologies emerge, the likelihood of Gopher finding a niche will increase. Perhaps the boom in wireless devices is such a niche, for instance.
Maybe Gopher isn't behind the times, it may actually be ahead of its time..
In any case, our "consumeristic" society tells us to equate old with bad, and new with good. I urge you to judge something on its merits.