Essential reading for anyone in qa or software testing, james whittaker outlines a model for strategic, iterative testing that dispenses with throwing levers in the dark in favor of measurable results. James is an energetic and passionate software executive with substantial engineering, research, writing and speaking. He was a pioneer in the field of modelbased testing, where his ph. How to break software by james whittaker cs 470 practical guide to testing consider the system as a whole and their interactions application under test file system, operating system api ui human invokes app app requests memory from os app interfaces with. He used to work for microsoft and was a professor before that. Even with their extremely different views both have contributed towards their goals. Whittaker, has spent his career in software testing. James whittaker has spent his career in software testing. You see, a smart rebirth is really more of a reinvention than a completely fresh start. This is the final part of my series on the future of testing. Whittaker and james bach come at the problems from very different places, but both want to improve the quality of software. In this article, author forrest shull spoke with james whittaker. That said, there will always, imo, be a certain level of magic involved in testing. Testing blog the 7 plagues of software testing monday, june 22, 2009 by james a.
I spoke at a swiss testing conference and at the university of zurich a couple years ago and i enjoyed the area and the people a lot. He was an early thought leader in modelbased testing where his ph. How to find and fix the killer software bugs that evade conventional testing in exploratory software testing, renowned software testing expert james whittaker reveals the real causes of todays most serious, wellhidden software bugsand introduces powerful new exploratory techniques for finding and correcting them. James is a distinguished technical evangelist at microsoft. A good set looks at a poorly defined api and turns it into something beautiful while testing it. Whittaker, we are delighted that he will be joining us again in march 2009. Liverpool tester gathering james whittaker the official. How should organizations leverage cloud computing approach to improve testing of software.
Some of what i knew about software quality applied to security. We want candidates to take a step back and find the most efficient way to solve the problem, and the previous function definition can use some improvement. James whittaker on software testing briankel channel 9. Jun 22, 2009 my read of james testing sorcery analogy is that we need to continue to move from the days of the alchemy of testing, to the chemistry of testing. My read of james testing sorcery analogy is that we need to continue to move from the days of the alchemy of testing, to the chemistry of testing. He dazzled us with live demos of bugs that were found in public software. This included a technique of editing html files to change quantity combo box values to negatives, resulting in a credit to ones visa card. He has spent his career focusing on testing, building high quality products, and designing tools and process at the industrial scale.
James whittakers career spans academia, startups and top tech companies and starts in 1986 as the first computer science graduate hired by the fbi. Very creative and expert with the mechanics of the game. Whittaker, jason arbon and jeff carollo more agile testing by lisa crispin and janet gregory. This ebook is an excerpt from james whittakers book entitled. Whittaker, march 2009 share article following on the continued success of tcls association with dr james a. Testing gave me a big legup on learning security because at the heart of both disciplines are software flaws. The future of software testing eurostar james whittaker. James whittaker is a technology executive with a career that spans academia, startups and top tech companies. I do believe that testing is getting easier, and i think if you look at software, the quality is improving.
Iso 29119 the new set of international standards on software testing eurostar stuart reid duration. James is tasked with helping to shape the next wave of testin i recently sat down with james whittaker who is a principal program manager architect on. Software testing and software qa online community with content, conversation, and practical advice on software test automation, test management, test. However, manual testing remains a very ad hoc, aimless. Pioneering the future of software test do you need to get it right, too. James whittaker on exploratory testing and scenariobased. James whittaker saving the world from boredom since before. When i abandoned testing for security, i took much of what i learned in testing with me into the security field.
While a professor at the florida institute of technology, james founded the worlds largest academic software testing research center and helped make. You cant compare 1990s software with modern software and think that. In exploratory software testing, renowned software testing expert james whittaker reveals the real causes of todays most serious, wellhidden software bugsand introduces powerful new exploratory techniques for finding and correcting them. Sep 04, 2009 james whittaker has spent his career in software testing and has left his mark on many aspects of the discipline. I just finished listening to the utest webinar with james whittaker about exploratory testing. James whittaker has spent his career in software testing and has left his mark on many aspects of the discipline. How to break software by james whittaker cs 470 practical guide to testing consider the system as a whole and their interactions application under test file system, operating system api ui human invokes app app requests memory from os app interfaces with database, api, libraries app opens, reads, and closes files. Tips tricks, tours, and techniques to guide test design. Since then, whittaker has shown an almost preternatural instinct for gravitating to a field of technology just as it was about to boom. More tours by james whittaker can be found in this book exploratory software testing. For this post ive saved what might be one of the more controversial of my predictions. Tips, tricks, tours, and techniques to guide test design james bach tours.
The testing techniques in this book are as flexible as conventional testing is rigid. James is one of the bestknown names in testing the world over. Whittaker is is a technology executive with a career that spans academia, startups, and industry. Whittaker, you could know the understanding as well as things more, not only concerning exactly what you obtain from individuals to individuals. How to find and fix the killer software bugs that evade conventional testing in exploratory software testing, renowned software testing expert james whittaker reveals the real causes of todays most serious, wellhidden software bugsand introduces powerful new exploratory techniques for.
James whittaker has spent much of his career in softwaretesting. Whittaker defines both inthesmall techniques for individual. Throughout his career, he specialized in software testing, security, and storytelling. How to find and fix the killer software bugs that evade conventional testing. Test this blog eric jacobsons software testing blog. He was an early thought leader in modelbased testing where his phd dissertation from the university of tennessee became a standard reference on the subject.
The software minefield by mike talks tap into mobile application testing by jonathan kohl experiences of test automation. Exploratory testing helps us document some of the primary testing paths through the software and discover problematic areas so we can explore further testing. Edaena salinas talks with james whittaker about career strategy in the technology field. Sep 08, 2016 testing gave me a big legup on learning security because at the heart of both disciplines are software flaws. Legendary testing expert james whittaker, until recently a. Look in the online help or user manual and find some instructions about how to perform some interesting activity. Whittaker stressed that he felt exploratory testing was a means to an end and not the end of the testing, and said that this is where his opinion may differ from those of his. While a professor at the florida institute of technology, james founded the worlds largest academic software testing research center and helped make testing a.
James is tasked with helping to shape the next wave of testin i recently sat down with james whittaker who is a principal program manager architect on the visual studio team system test edition team. James whittaker describes the tourist metaphor for this novel approach and demonstrates tours taken by. Jul 07, 2014 james is an excellent dm dungeon master. James whittaker chief technology officer biscuit labs. Feb 20, 2015 iso 29119 the new set of international standards on software testing eurostar stuart reid duration. Tips, tricks, tours, and techniques to guide test design whittaker, james a.
While he was teaching computer science at the florida institute of technology, he wrote a series of bestselling books on how to break software code. Eurostar software testing conference 5,407 views 40. Years ago i left my software testing specialty because the web and automation made it moot. James is an energetic and passionate software executive with substantial engineering, research. How to break software is a departure from conventional testing in which testers prepare a written test plan and then use it as a script when testing the software. Here james addresses a question he gets asked more than. His story starts in 1986 with the distinction of being the first computer science graduate to be hired by the federal bureau of investigation where he worked to automate agents caseloads.
Google software testing with james whittaker eurostar huddle. Yes i am going to be speaking at gtac, thanks for asking. James then worked as a freelance developer, most notably for ibm, ericsson, sap, cisco and microsoft, specializing in test automation. The first time i saw james whittaker was in 2004 at an iist conference. About the author exploratory software testing book. The testing community has clearly come a long way since glenford myers the art of software testing.
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