Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
Testing tools can check, not test: DevelopSense's Founder
By
Ojas Sharma,Thursday, 19 November 2009, 05:14 Hrs
Bangalore: The long drawn debate on what should firm opt for - automated testing or manual testing, is finally cut short by Michael Bolton, Founding Partner of DevelopSense, while speaking at the 9th Annual International Software Testing Conference (STC) 09. Bolton strongly opposed the process of testing by machines.
The DevelopSense Founder says that there is a huge difference between checking and testing. Checking is a process of confirming and verifying and can be done by machines. Testing, on the other hand, is an activity that requires human to perform. "We test not only for repeatability, but also for adaptability, value and threats to the value," Bolton added. A machine lacks emotions and hence will only do what we program it to do.
Change being the only thing constant, while Bolton voiced for a change in the attitude towards manual testing, the other leaders voiced for some other changes in the Indian testing scenario. The Indian testing companies require to do something different and be the catalyst for change. In order to do so, an Indian company should invest in disruptive technologies such as multicore and hybrid systems, virtual and fabric computing, social network and cloud computing, which will help to accelerate growth, says Gangadhariah C P, Senior Vice President and Global Head of testing services of Wipro. He feels that India has the highest potential of coming up with disruptive technology.
"Recover of economy is much quicker than we expected. Businesses are looking at spending money now, which had paused for sometime," said Makrand Teje, President and CEO, AppLabs. This statement reflected the optimistic attitude in the software testing industry, which has gone through a rough patch in the last one year.
Recession has brought in many changes to the software testing industry. Teje feels that the industry is now more focused towards prevention rather than detection of defects. He also feels that India will continue to have advantage over other countries in terms of quality and cost equations for at least another six-seven years.
Gangadhariah says, "Testing survives on change. If you look at IT industry most of the change is driven due to technology. But during recession everything has changed." In order for the industry to survive, there are certain steps that companies should follow, and the most important step is to become credible advisors of their clients. Testing firms should tell their clients what is good or bad for them and become their trusted advisors," he added.
IDC has forecasted a CAGR of 19 percent for discrete global testing services to reach 17.7 billion by 2013. Gartner says that testing could make upto 25-40 percent of software budget. This industry has been hit hard by recession, but over the years the role of testing has increased greatly. Indian software testing industry is looking to expand in the West, however experts feel that it should not focus only on the West but make quality tested applications for local market as well.
The DevelopSense Founder says that there is a huge difference between checking and testing. Checking is a process of confirming and verifying and can be done by machines. Testing, on the other hand, is an activity that requires human to perform. "We test not only for repeatability, but also for adaptability, value and threats to the value," Bolton added. A machine lacks emotions and hence will only do what we program it to do.
Change being the only thing constant, while Bolton voiced for a change in the attitude towards manual testing, the other leaders voiced for some other changes in the Indian testing scenario. The Indian testing companies require to do something different and be the catalyst for change. In order to do so, an Indian company should invest in disruptive technologies such as multicore and hybrid systems, virtual and fabric computing, social network and cloud computing, which will help to accelerate growth, says Gangadhariah C P, Senior Vice President and Global Head of testing services of Wipro. He feels that India has the highest potential of coming up with disruptive technology.
"Recover of economy is much quicker than we expected. Businesses are looking at spending money now, which had paused for sometime," said Makrand Teje, President and CEO, AppLabs. This statement reflected the optimistic attitude in the software testing industry, which has gone through a rough patch in the last one year.
Recession has brought in many changes to the software testing industry. Teje feels that the industry is now more focused towards prevention rather than detection of defects. He also feels that India will continue to have advantage over other countries in terms of quality and cost equations for at least another six-seven years.
Gangadhariah says, "Testing survives on change. If you look at IT industry most of the change is driven due to technology. But during recession everything has changed." In order for the industry to survive, there are certain steps that companies should follow, and the most important step is to become credible advisors of their clients. Testing firms should tell their clients what is good or bad for them and become their trusted advisors," he added.
IDC has forecasted a CAGR of 19 percent for discrete global testing services to reach 17.7 billion by 2013. Gartner says that testing could make upto 25-40 percent of software budget. This industry has been hit hard by recession, but over the years the role of testing has increased greatly. Indian software testing industry is looking to expand in the West, however experts feel that it should not focus only on the West but make quality tested applications for local market as well.
Don't Miss
Write your comment now
|
Submit your news/press release
Let our editorial department know about any news about your company, your
organization, or yourself, or any press release that you have. If we find it suitable for our audience, we will contact you and make a news. Please
also share any links for the news.
Reader's comments (5)
1: Yes you can..You should have same emotion
while writing scripts for automation..
Posted by: Dean - 17 Dec, 2009
2: Dear Sir:
Michael Bolton here. I thank you for writing this article and featuring some points on my talk. I especially appreciate that you noted that we must test not only for repeatabilty, but for adaptability and value. That's key. I would like to highlight a couple of additional points that may not be clear from the article.
The first is that I didn't mention "manual testing". I talked about SAPIENT testing. The hands don't do the testing--the brain does. The hands are simply what we (sometimes, often) use for input.
Some readers might infer from the article that I'm opposed to automation generally. I'm not, not in the least. Tools are extrememly important. They extend our capacity to test by allowing us to generate data (whether specific or random). To probe the system by allowing us to query the internals of its state. To parse, search, sort, and filter data or log files. To develop oracles (test programs that give us a plausible answer that we can compare to output the system under test). Perhaps most importanly, tools allow us to program checks that we can perform on certain functions in the system. My objection is to the idea that the tools DO the testing. There are machines in the operating room, but no one claims that there's such a thing as "automated surgery". In the same way, while tools help us solve testing problems, the really important part of testing--what we think and what we do--can't be automated.
Moreover, some readers might infer from the article that I'm opposed to checking. I'm not. Checking can be a very important activity. It's a very efficient means by which we might detect unwanted changes in the program. As part of test-driven design and unit tests, checks give programmers rapid feedback on their work, and this leads to more robust code. Checks allow programmers to refactor their code with greater confidence. Checks help to support rapid or continuous deployment. Checks themselves require no skill--but preparing them and analyzing their outcome takes significant skill, both in testing and in programming. I wrote a blog post on this recently, which you can find by Googling "merely testing checking"
The principal point of the talk was that testing is a complex, cognitive process, just like management is. Leaders must foster environments in which everyone is empowered, in which innovation, skill, freedom, and responsibility are all welcome. This will lead not only to better testing, but also to better checking.
Those who may be interested may wish to contact me via email (michael at developsense.com), or look at the presentation notes that are linked off the past events listing on the right side of the www.developsense.com home page.
By the way, your input field seems not to allow me to type a number of characters that might be important or useful, like the semicolon. (I tested it.)
Again, thank you for your report on the conference.
Regards,
---Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton here. I thank you for writing this article and featuring some points on my talk. I especially appreciate that you noted that we must test not only for repeatabilty, but for adaptability and value. That's key. I would like to highlight a couple of additional points that may not be clear from the article.
The first is that I didn't mention "manual testing". I talked about SAPIENT testing. The hands don't do the testing--the brain does. The hands are simply what we (sometimes, often) use for input.
Some readers might infer from the article that I'm opposed to automation generally. I'm not, not in the least. Tools are extrememly important. They extend our capacity to test by allowing us to generate data (whether specific or random). To probe the system by allowing us to query the internals of its state. To parse, search, sort, and filter data or log files. To develop oracles (test programs that give us a plausible answer that we can compare to output the system under test). Perhaps most importanly, tools allow us to program checks that we can perform on certain functions in the system. My objection is to the idea that the tools DO the testing. There are machines in the operating room, but no one claims that there's such a thing as "automated surgery". In the same way, while tools help us solve testing problems, the really important part of testing--what we think and what we do--can't be automated.
Moreover, some readers might infer from the article that I'm opposed to checking. I'm not. Checking can be a very important activity. It's a very efficient means by which we might detect unwanted changes in the program. As part of test-driven design and unit tests, checks give programmers rapid feedback on their work, and this leads to more robust code. Checks allow programmers to refactor their code with greater confidence. Checks help to support rapid or continuous deployment. Checks themselves require no skill--but preparing them and analyzing their outcome takes significant skill, both in testing and in programming. I wrote a blog post on this recently, which you can find by Googling "merely testing checking"
The principal point of the talk was that testing is a complex, cognitive process, just like management is. Leaders must foster environments in which everyone is empowered, in which innovation, skill, freedom, and responsibility are all welcome. This will lead not only to better testing, but also to better checking.
Those who may be interested may wish to contact me via email (michael at developsense.com), or look at the presentation notes that are linked off the past events listing on the right side of the www.developsense.com home page.
By the way, your input field seems not to allow me to type a number of characters that might be important or useful, like the semicolon. (I tested it.)
Again, thank you for your report on the conference.
Regards,
---Michael Bolton
Posted by: Michael Bolton - 19 Nov, 2009
3:Thank you Micheal Bolton for the insight and
Thanks Ojas for putting it online.
I really liked the emphasis on the adaptability and value. There is one point i would like to highlight in the article is that "A machine lacks emotions and hence will only do what we program it to do." which is very true and i think any Automation engineer will agree to that. It not only puts across a very valid point but also gives an extra direction when engineers think from an automation perspective. A GOOD automation engineer will always keep this point in mind and try to program the tool as close to the human behavior as possible and that will distinguish him from the other automation engineers. Given that the machine only performs what we program it for, the onus of making it work in the right path lies in the hand of the engineer who programs it.
Regards,
- NKHS
I really liked the emphasis on the adaptability and value. There is one point i would like to highlight in the article is that "A machine lacks emotions and hence will only do what we program it to do." which is very true and i think any Automation engineer will agree to that. It not only puts across a very valid point but also gives an extra direction when engineers think from an automation perspective. A GOOD automation engineer will always keep this point in mind and try to program the tool as close to the human behavior as possible and that will distinguish him from the other automation engineers. Given that the machine only performs what we program it for, the onus of making it work in the right path lies in the hand of the engineer who programs it.
Regards,
- NKHS
NKHS replied to: Michael Bolton
post - 20 Nov, 2009
post - 20 Nov, 2009
4: I was a part of this event and it gave good
insight to the industry as well as guided
testers on how to benefit in current
situation.
Posted by: Sam - 19 Nov, 2009
5:Thanks Michael Botton For your opinion on
testing tools
Manjunath N replied to: Sam
post - 19 Nov, 2009
post - 19 Nov, 2009
Disclaimer
Messages posted on this Web site under the `Comments' area are solely the opinions of those who have posted them and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Infoconnect Web Technologies India Pvt Ltd or its site www.siliconindia.com. Gossip, mud slinging and malicious attacks on individuals and organizations are strictly prohibited. Infoconnect Web Technologies India Pvt Ltd can not be held responsible for errors or omissions in content, nor for the authenticity of the user/company name or email addresses associated with posted messages. Infoconnect Web Technologies India Pvt Ltd reserves the right to edit or remove messages containing inappropriate language or any other material that could be construed as libelous, potentially libelous,
or otherwise offensive or inappropriate.Infoconnect Web Technologies India Pvt Ltd do not endorse the products and services or any other offerings mentioned in these messages.
- Software Testing is Dead!!!
- Indian Army Preparing for Limited Conflict with China
- Indian Brains Behind 50 Percent of U.S. Patents
- Why is Priyanka Gandhi Liked More than Rahul Gandhi?
- Selective Abortion on the Rise among Indians in North America
- India's Most Wanted: Pak's Political Hero
- 5 Best Android Smartphones Under Rs.10,000
Beautiful and dress selection, please go to Dresses
| Plan on visiting the Lotus Temple? Get Great Deals on Delhi Hotels ! |
Buy India Wholesale Products on DHgate.com
SPOTLIGHT
Gadgets
Choosing the right smartphone is quite difficult because they are not only getting smarter and..
|
|
|
|
|
