A weekly source of software testing news
ISSUE #47 - February 11, 2018
You can’t test the quality in, they say. So how do we get to build software at a better quality level? We examine some techniques for writing better code: code reviews (duh), writing good commit messages and error messages, pairing and mobbing approaches. Tell your developers, and keep in mind that test code is code, so let’s practice what we preach.
Tips for better code review process. The romance analogy is cheesy (yet suitable for the upcoming Valentine’s day!), don’t let it throw you off, it gets good later on.
https://mtlynch.io/human-code-reviews-1/
How to write better commit messages, which then help code review and make later “git blame” useful:
https://medium.com/@felixclack/writing-great-commit-messages-for-better-code-review-70b21dac5788
How to write good error messages:
How to build Web APIs for success, principles from Salesforce, including “Trust in Acceptance Tests” (BDD style) and “Log, Monitor and Alert” – I couldn’t agree more.
https://engineering.salesforce.com/setting-up-a-web-api-for-success-ff039f76d322
Nice little rant imploring developers to deliver software that’s challenging for testers to find bugs in:
https://blog.iain.xyz/2017/06/your-test-team-is-not-a-safety-blanket.html
Pair programming has promise of delivering a higher quality product with increased velocity in the long run. This article is a how-to guide:
https://medium.com/@weblab_tech/pair-programming-guide-a76ca43ff389
While this paper outlines costs (15% increase in development time) and benefits: “improves design quality, reduces defects, reduces staffing risk, enhances technical skills, improves team communications and is considered more enjoyable”
https://collaboration.csc.ncsu.edu/laurie/Papers/XPSardinia.PDF
Tester-developer pairing technique promises benefits in learning on both sides, earlier bug discovery, and more maintainable automated tests:
https://dojo.ministryoftesting.com/lessons/pairing-with-developers-a-guide-for-testers
Mobbing technique with both programmers and testers participating can “turn programmers into better testers, and improve any testers capabilities”.
https://dojo.ministryoftesting.com/lessons/mob-testing-an-introduction-experience-report
Worth learning: On more effective ways of presenting test information to others, based on data visualization principles from Edward Tufte, the god of viz:
https://blog.gurock.com/youve-got-to-see-this/
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