STARWEST 2019 - Test Automation

Imagine this … As soon as any developed functionality is submitted into the code repository, it is automatically subjected to the appropriate battery of tests and then released straight into production. Setting up the pipeline capable of doing just that is becoming more and more common and something you need to know about. But most organizations hit the same stumbling block—just what IS the appropriate battery of tests? Automated build architectures don't always lend themselves well to the traditional stages of testing. In this hands-on tutorial, Melissa Benua introduces you to key test...

According to the 2018/2019 World Quality Report, the number one challenge in applying testing to agile development is overcoming the challenges of creating, managing, and maintaining test environments and test data. Over 48% of respondents had issues with test data. As our systems complexity and time to market demands have increased, the appetite for resolving the test data issue can be diminished or be viewed as test data doesn’t really matter. Join Julie Gardiner as she shares the good, bad and ugly of test environments and data, defines an approach to establish where you are in terms of...

Software continues to revolutionize the world, impacting nearly every aspect of our work, family, and personal life. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are playing key roles in this revolution through improvements in search results, recommendations, forecasts, and other predictions. AI and ML technologies are being used in platforms for digital assistants, home entertainment, medical diagnosis, customer support, and autonomous vehicles. Testing practitioners are recognizing the potential for advances in AI and ML to be leveraged for automated testing—an area...

Test automation is an essential element in modern system development. And test design can make or break automation efforts throughout the entire CI/CD pipeline. We want automated tests to find problems in a build quickly, run without a hitch, and be easily maintained. However, if tests are badly structured and unnecessarily detailed, you may have a hard time automating them—even with great tools and great technical expertise. Hans Buwalda explores how testers, both technical and non-technical, can design or restructure tests to make them suitable for automation. In this session, you’ll...

We are often reminded by those experienced in writing test automation that code is code. The sentiment being conveyed is that test code should be written with the same care and rigor that production code is written. However, many people who write test code may not have experience writing production code, so it’s not exactly clear what is meant by this statement. And even those who write production code find that there are unique design patterns and code smells that are specific to test code in which they are not aware. Join Angie Jones for this workshop, at which, you will be given a...

Software development is trending toward building systems using small, autonomous, independently deployable services called microservices. Leveraging microservices makes it easier to add and modify system behavior with minimal or no service interruption. Because they facilitate releasing software early, frequently, and continuously, microservices are especially popular in DevOps. But how do microservices affect software testing and testability? Are there new testing challenges that arise from this paradigm? Or are these simply old challenges disguised as new ones? Join Tariq King as he...

In many organizations, agile development processes are driving the pursuit of faster software releases, which has spawned a set of new practices—DevOps. DevOps stresses communications and integration between development and operations, including rapid deployment, continuous integration, and continuous delivery. Because DevOps practices require confidence that changes made to the code base will function as expected, automated testing is essential. Join Jeffery Payne as he discusses the unique challenges associated with integrating automated testing into continuous integration/continuous...

As we face increased demands for speed, change and technical excellence—the pressure, and the need for automating aspects of testing increases. But, successful test automation is not just about selecting and implementing tools and a technical infrastructure. People ensure the success or failure of the automation project; they must drive the project. Join Isabel Evans as she shows you how to make your test automation projects people-driven, by focusing on two vital but often neglected elements of any automation project: attitudes towards automation and experiences of automation. What...

A decade ago Microsoft had over twelve thousand full-time testers, and when you added up all the contract and outsourced testers too, there were more software test engineers than developers. The test automation solutions alone had more than a hundred million lines of code. However, that process was built for a company that would release a new version of a monopoly-scale product once every three years and ship it on a CD. That world had already begun to change, and Microsoft was missing the boat. When Microsoft tester Ken Johnston first encountered agile development and DevOps, he realized...

Accessibility empowers users, increases diversity, and can drive higher adoption and higher growth of your digital services. The axe family of open source technologies has been designed with speed, ease of integration, and zero false positives in mind. It is the perfect tool to start automating the testing of your websites and applications for accessibility issues. Dylan Barrell is the founder of the axe family of technologies and will talk about how they can help you get started with accessibility testing. He will show a complement of tools that integrate with a variety of technologies,...

Nonfunctional tests like performance tests are often left until the end of the delivery cycle because they can be expensive in terms of time, resources, and effort. However, performance issues can be difficult to resolve when found late in the software development lifecycle. Apache JMeter is an open source tool designed to load test functional behavior and measure performance. JMeter can be used to develop, manage, and execute load and performance tests while the code is being developed, rather than waiting to do performance testing until just before release. By using it early in your...

The internet of things (IoT) brings connectivity to a range of previously non-internet-enabled physical devices and real-world objects. This shift has an impact testing—changing what we test, when we test, and the way we test. For one thing, once you’re in the real world, the number of possible issues explodes due to environmental conditions. Just like a race car must adjust its tires for different track conditions, IoT devices must account for environmental factors such as temperature and humidity to prevent unanticipated failures. Jane Fraser believes that for the IoT to be successful,...

Behavior-driven development has been a buzzworthy term in the testing and development community for several years. At first glance, the elements of BDD seem simple: testing scenarios, living documentation, automation, and reports. That all sounds great, but then why isn't everyone doing it? Upon a deeper dive, it becomes obvious that the implementation of BDD needs a lot of forethought and planning, and teams must approach it for the right reasons. Christine Fisher will follow the evolution that one team is currently experiencing in their shift to BDD. BDD was selected to help them...

The amount of IoT software in everyday things is growing at an alarming rate. Some cars now have over 100 million lines of code. Software exists in everything from our home security systems and thermostats, our televisions and phones, our children’s toys, and our cars to the systems we rely on every day but don’t think about, like our water supply, electricity, and power plants. Unfortunately, the amount of security testing being done on these devices is not growing at the same rate, as evidenced in the so-called IoT Hall of Shame, which keeps a running account of IoT...

Docker is the most popular containerized solution being used in the software industry for development. Like any other test automation tool, however, implementation can get complicated, tricky, and unmaintainable if all you understand is the record-and-playback features or think it is the same as using a virtual machine. Whether you are already using Docker for your automation needs or plan to start using it soon, join Aprajita Mathur as she shares her journey of using Docker for testing complex and constantly evolving data analysis pipelines. She will discuss basic concepts of...

No longer just a futuristic concept, the internet of things (IoT) has a strong presence in our world. If your business is not prepared for it, you’re already behind. With the proliferation of connected “things”—devices, appliances, cars, and even clothes—Jennifer Bonine says that the stage is set and IoT mobile apps are here to stay. Testers are now being asked to test on more complex devices and more advanced platforms, so they must keep up with the demand for new skills, new strategies, and an entirely new set of knowledge for testing IoT apps. Jennifer will review where we are today and...