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WinRunner Interview Questions
2006-11-10 13:06:02
Source: TechInter views.com1. How you used WinRunner in your project? - Yes, I have been using WinRunner for creating automated scripts for GUI, functional and regression testing of the AUT.2. Explain WinRunner testing process? - WinRunner testing process involves six main stagesa) Create GUI Map File so that WinRunner can recognize the GUI objects in the application being testedb) Create test scripts by recording, programming, or a combination of both. While recording tests, insert checkpoints where you want to check the response of the application being tested.c) Debug Test: run tests in Debug mode to make sure they run smoothlyd) Run Tests: run tests in Verify mode to test your application.e) View Results: determines the success or failure of the tests.f) Report Defects: If a test run fails due to a defect in the application being tested, you can report information about the defect directly from the Test Results window.3. What is contained in the GUI map? - WinRunner stores infor...
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Top 10 Basic Software Testing Terminologies
2006-11-06 18:45:02
A list of 10 simple definitions of Testing Terminology.Error - The difference between a computed, observed, or measured value or condition and the true, specified, or theoretically correct value or condition.Fault - An incorrect step, process, or data definition in a computer program.Debug - To detect, locate, and correct faults in a computer program.Failure - The inability of a system or component to perform its required functions within specified performance requirements. It is manifested as a fault.Testing - The process of analyzing a software item to detect the differences between existing and required conditions (that is, bugs) and to evaluate the features of the software items.Static analysis - The process of evaluating a system or component based on its form, structure, content, or documentation.Dynamic analysis - The process of evaluating a system or component based on its behavior during execution.Correctness - The degree to which a system or component is free from faults i...
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Responsibilities of a Test Engineer
2006-11-06 18:45:02
The Test Engine er should participate o­n teams that design and develop the products. They should develop test protocols and test reports for the verification testing of the product to ensure that they meet product requirements and specifications. Tasks and responsibilities include:1. Prepare verification and validation test plans, test procedures and test reports.2. Participate in the development of product requirements and specifications.3. Perform verification and validation testing of hardware and software.4. Participate in customer meetings o­n project status and design reviews.5. Facilitate risk analysis activities.6. Contribute to the overall improvement in procedures.7. Ensure that testing is performed8. Ensure that testing is documented9. Ensure that testing methodology, techniques, standards are established and developedTesting personnel are encouraged to be creative & innovative, while at the same time are expected to learn and follow our structured processes.The b...
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What is Test Driven Development (TDD) ?
2006-11-06 18:45:02
TDD is one of the core methodologies of ?Extreme Programming?. Kent Beck is founder of Extreme Programming. Extreme Programming (aka XP) has been successful as it emphasis more on Customer Satisfaction. XP encourages to keep the design very simple and straight forward. XP significantly changes the way we code, it drifts from the traditional style of coding. XP is best suited when the requirements change dynamically. We might have a system whos functionality changes every few months. Some times requirements change when the customer is not very clear about what he wants. Lastly the developer?s productivity increases using XP.Test Drive n Development is known as ?Test First?. TDD lays more stress on through unit testing. It?s a usual practice to write and execute test cases after the coding is complete. Goal of TDD is to write a clean code. But in TDD, first we write test cases, write the code and execute test cases. So that?s the reason it?s called ?Test First?. It requires a different...
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10 Critical Traps and 10 Success Criteria For Software Devel
2006-10-30 18:00:02
Seems obvious but great companies with great products fail due to these traps.Critical Traps1. Unclear ownership of product quality.2. No overall test program design or goals.3. Non-existent or ill-defined test plans and cases.4. Testing that focuses narrowly on functional cases.5. No ad hoc, stress or boundary testing.6. Use of inconsistent or incorrect testing methodology.7. Relying on inexperienced testers.8. Improper use of tools and automation, resulting in lost time and reduced ROI.9. No meaningful metrics for tracking bugs and driving quality back into development.10. Incomplete regression cycle before software release.To avoid these traps, it is important to incorporate best practices into your quality assurance process. The process should include an evaluation of where you are with quality assurance today, what your QA goals are, what the gaps are in the process, and finally you should build a roadmap to obtain your goals. Only after these steps have been taken can you avoi...
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What is Software Quality ?
2006-10-30 18:00:02
Definitions of Quality:(IEEE 610.12-1990) Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology:"the degree to which a system. component, or process meets (1) specified requirements, and (2) customer or user needs or expectations".(ISO 9003-3-1991) Guidelines for the application of ISO 9001 to the Development, Supply and Maintenance of Software:"the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy specified or implied needs".Meeting customer needs is key in these definitions. But only with adequate quality assurance techniques quality can give you a competitive advantage. One could argue that "the quality of your software makes your customers happy" or "the customers define the quality of your software" ? For the latter, throwing a lot of testing at the product can improve your external quality to an extend that it is satisfactory for you customers, however at a significant cost. Testing shows you the (lack of) external quality: co...
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Six Sigma Terms and Definitions
2006-10-30 18:00:02
According to Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric (GE), and one of the most succesful corporate leaders ever, who used Six Sigma as major Quality Improvement method:Six Sigma is one the biggest management innovations of the past 25 years. Six Sigma improves the development procedures, brings products faster to the market with less defects, and reduces cost. The biggest - but least praised - advantage of Six Sigma is its potential to cultivate excellent leaders.Six Sigma is not about averages, it is about eliminating variances from your relationship with the customers.Six Sigma Definition s from the the GE website:Quality Approaches and ModelsDFSS ? (Design for Six Sigma) is a systematic methodology utilizing tools, training and measurements to enable us to design products and processes that meet customer expectations and can be produced at Six Sigma quality levels.DMAIC ? (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) is a process for continued improvement. It is systematic, s...
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ISO9126 Software Quality Attributes
2006-10-30 18:00:02
ISO/IEC 9126 provides a framework for the evaluation of software quality.It defines six software quality attributes, also called quality characteristics:Functionality: are the required functions available, including interoperabilithy and securityReliability: maturity, fault tolerance and recoverabilityUsability: how easy it is to understand, learn, operate the software systemEfficiency: performance and resource behaviourMaintainability: how easy is it to modify the softwarePortability: can the software easily be transfered to another environment, including installability Almost all these attributes are non-functional. However it is not uncommon that software requirements and testing activities are mostly focused on functionality. Problems with nonfunctional requirements detected late in the project can have a major impact on the schedule. Often significant changes have to be done on the architecture to resolve non-functional quality issues. Use quality attributes to specify the requ...
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What is ACID Testing ?
2006-10-27 00:36:02
One of the primary tests for reliability of a database management system (DBMS) is the ACID test. ACID-compliant systems possess certain properties that offer greater protection to stored data in the event of an unexpected hardware or software failure; even if the database is being read from or written to at the time the failure occurs.In general, an ACID-compliant DBMS is greatly preferred to a non-complaint DBMS. In applications where the availability and integrity of the stored data are critical, an ACID-compliant database is required; non-compliant systems should be automatically rejected.The ACID test alone does not guarantee reliability. Other factors such as the reliability of the host environment (both hardware and software components), a strictly observed backup policy, etc. are also crucial in maintaining any DBMS.The four ACID properties are Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation and Durability.Atomicity When a transaction that updates the database occurs, either all of the up...
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Software Testing Principles
2006-10-26 12:33:03
Software testing is an extremely creative and intellectually challenging task. When testing follows the principles given below, the creative element of test design and execution rivals any of the preceding software development steps.Testing must be done by an independent party.Testing should not be performed by the person or team that developed the software since they tend to defend the correctness of the program. The developer is driven by delivery and he will try to finish the testing as early as possible. The developer is gentle in testing his code and has a soft corner for his code. The independent tester is driven by quality and will try to break the code. Hence testing should be done by an independent person.Assign best personnel to the task.Because testing requires high creativity and responsibility only the best personnel must be assigned to design, implement, and analyze test cases, test data and test results. Also note that from point 1, the testing is being done by an ind...
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Apollo 13 and acceptance testing
2006-10-26 12:33:03
From The Space Review:Let?s look back again at the Apollo 13 ?missed opportunities?.During the routine countdown rehearsals, oxygen tank #2 was filled with oxygen but could not be emptied. The ground crew thought a loose nozzle fitting was the source of the difficulty, but there was no thorough investigation. The loose fitting problem was not fixed since gaseous oxygen still passed through the nozzle as needed. Instead of thoroughly investigating the problem, they worked around the problem. When the normal procedure to empty the tank failed to work, ground crews improvised a procedure and used heaters and fans to empty the tank. (Please notice a similarity of living with and working around an Apollo program unknown problem is similar to the Space Shuttle program accepting the unknown problem of foam strikes.) The improvised detanking procedures had never been used before, and the tank had not been qualified for the conditions experienced. (Notice a similarity between this and the Ch...
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How To Prepare A Killer Bug Report ?
2006-10-26 12:33:03
IntroductionAfter a defect has been found, it must be reported to development so that it can be fixed. Much has been written about identifying defects and reproducing them? but very little has been done to explain the reporting process and what developers really need.Overview of BugsNo matter what a system does, what language it?s written in, what platform it?s run on, whether it?s client/server based or not? its basic functions are the same. They are broken down into the following categories:1. Entry2. Storage3. Output4. ProcessAs the interaction between data and the system increases usually so does the severity of the bug, and the detail needed in a report.Bug severity can be categorized as follows:1. Cosmetic2. Inconvenience3. Loss of Function4. System Crash or Hang5. Loss of DataCosmetic bugs are the simplest bugs to report, and affect the system the least. They are simply instances where things look wrong. Spelling errors, screen anomalies? these are cosmetic bugs.Bugs that are...
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Intel to Launch Quad-Core Chips on November 13
2006-10-26 12:33:03
In a race with rival Advanced Micro Devices, Intel will bring its quad-core chips to market in a new line of Hewlett-Packard workstations due to be introduced on November 13. HP sent out invitations to the event but did not specify exact models and prices. The computers will probably use Intel?s planned Xeon 5300 chip, and will be designed to run high-end applications like seismic analysis and visualization technologies from Ansys, Autodesk, Landmark Graphics, and Parametric Technology.The launch would mean that Intel brings quad-core processors to market before AMD, a crucial win in a year when Intel has made as many headlines for its layoffs and missed earnings targets as for its technology.
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Different Types of Software Testing
2006-10-26 12:33:03
I think I am the trillionth person on this planet to post a blog on this topic! But still I am writing because this is the most fundamental thing, a would-be ?Soft ware Tester? must know. There can be many more types of Software Testing that can be appended to this list. But these are the most widely used and most widely accepted types of Software Testing.Unit testing: This type of testing tests individual application objects or methods in an isolated environment before being integrated into the system. It verifies the smallest unit of the application to ensure the correct structure and the defined operations. Unit testing is the most efficient and effective means to detect defects or bugs at the most basic level. The testing tools available in the market today are capable of creating unit test scripts. This type of testing is mostly done by the developers. Integration testing: This testing is to evaluate proper functioning of the integrated modules (objects, methods) that make up a...
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Microsoft Agrees to Changes in Vista Security
2006-10-26 12:33:03
From Vista Live: ?Bowing to pressure from European antitrust regulators and rival security vendors, today, Microsoft has agreed to modify Windows Vista to better accommodate third-party security software makers. In a press conference Friday, Microsoft said it would configure Vista to let third-party anti-virus and other security software makers bypass ?PatchGuard,? a feature in 64-bit versions of Windows Vista designed to bar access to the Windows kernel.Microsoft said it would create an API to let third-party vendors access the kernel and to disable the Windows Security Center so that users would not be prompted by multiple alerts about operating system security. In addition, Redmond said it would modify the welcome screen presented to Vista users to include links to other security software other than Microsoft?s own OneCare suite. From the article: ?It looks like Microsoft was really testing the waters here, sort of pushing the limits of antitrust and decided they probably couldn?...
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Software Testing - How To Log A Bug (Defect)
2006-10-26 12:33:03
As we already know the importance of Software Testing in any software development project, it becomes necessary to log a defect in a proper way, track the defect, and keep a log of defects for future reference etc. As a tester tests an application and if he/she finds any defect, the life cycle of the defect starts and it becomes very important to communicate the defect to the developers in order to get it fixed, keep track of current status of the defect, find out if any such defect (similar defect) was ever found in last attempts of testing etc. For this purpose, previously manually created documents were used, which were circulated to everyone associated with the software project (developers and testers), now a days many Bug Reporting Tools are available, which help in tracking and managing bugs in an effective way. How to report a bug? It?s a good practice to take screen shots of execution of every step during software testing. If any test case fails during execution, it needs to...
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Mercury launches new software testing products
2006-10-26 12:33:03
From Intelligent Enterprise:Mercury released on Monday two testing products, an upgrade of the Systinet component registry, and new SOA management capabilities within the Business Availability Center, a suite of software management tools. SOA is a type of distributed computing in which standards-based interfaces are used to connect application functionality. Data is traded by way of technology based on extensible markup language, or XML.SOA, formerly called distributed objects architecture, was often used initially to carry data to in-house Web portals. The technology is gradually moving up the IT food chain to handle integration of supply-chain applications between companies, and to automate in-house business processes.With the increasing complexity has come the need for better tools to manage the spider web of components, often called services, trading XML data packets. Mercury starts its mission with version 2.1 of Systinet 2, a registry and repository with a set of governance ca...
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