Quality Principles for Today’s “Glueware”—Testing Web Services, Libraries, and Frameworks

In the past, developers knew every line of code in their applications. They designed it, wrote it, tested it, and controlled it. Today’s applications are far different. Rather than written, they are often assembled―from program language libraries, third-party frameworks, encapsulated web services, and even entire external systems—and glued together with small amounts of code. Before your organization committed to using these external pieces of software, were testers part of the evaluation process? Was the software thoroughly tested before betting your organization’s success on it? Or did everyone just hope for the best? Julie Gardiner explains how to make the business case for including test professionals in the software evaluation to add their unique focus on software quality. If you’re already committed to using vendor supplied software, Julie describes how to ensure quality from your vendors, on a schedule that meets your needs—not theirs.