ISEB-ISTQB Certified Tester In Software Testing For Foundation and Advanced Level

Software Testers - Past, Present and Future Early during the last decade, software development companies were producing applications by the bucket-load to keep up with the incredible customer demand. The role of the Software Tester then, was to (in my opinion) detect the critical and major issues, and most minor issues were simply brushed under the carpet to get the product out of the door on time. For the Software Testers, it was (to coin a phrase) "A much simpler time". During this time-frame the Software Testers actively working hard to get themselves recognized as a necessary part of the software development process, and not just some kind of 'bottle-neck' that delays a products release. Credit to the testers for actually achieving that goal! Having worked so hard to achieve their aim, Software Testers found themselves under threat, a threat which in a way came from inside their own camp. The threat I am talking about was 'Test Automation'.

Beta Testing,  a Crucial Software Testing Decision The launch of any software product is a tense time for the company who has developed it. It is at this point of the software development life-cycle that is probably the most important. There are critical questions to be answered, for example; how much testing has been done?, what is the impact of anything going wrong? To answer the question; how much testing has been performed can be fairly straight-forward to answer by reviewing the test documentation and conversing with the appropriate stakeholders. All too often though, the testing can be heavily focused on an environment that although was designed to replicate a customers environment, normally doesn't quite live up to expectations. This can result in a software product being released with a high risk of failing in the end-users environment, even though it was heavily tested. Companies who develop software should go the extra mile and ensure that sufficient Bet

Alpha Testing And Beta Testing, the fundamental differences Before any software product can be released it must be tested. Typically a formal test strategy is planned and executed on the software before it can be considered for release. Often after the formal phases of testing have been completed, additional testing is performed called Alpha and Beta testing. Alpha testing is done before the software is made available to the general public. Typically, the developers will perform the Alpha testing using white box testing techniques. Subsequent black box and grey box techniques will be carried out afterwards. The focus is on simulating real users by using these techniques and carrying out tasks and operations that a typical user might perform. Normally, the actual Alpha testing itself will be carried out in a lab type environment and not in the usual workplaces. Once these techniques have been satisfactorily completed, the Alpha testing is considered to be complete. The

Top 10 Apps for the iPhone This year has seen a steady incline in iPhone Apps being developed. Anyone who owns an iPhone is spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing an App to download, no matter which category. With the steady stream of new Apps being released, it is difficult for any of us to keep up with what's new and also what is in fact actually worth downloading. I hope to assist in this area with what I think are the best Apps of 2013. Being an iPhone App tester I am in position not to just judge an App on its uniqueness, value for money etc. but also its actual 'quality'. Many of us actually judge an App by its quality, often without realizing it. Just look at some App reviews and see the users comments. The following list represents what I have found to be of outstanding quality, and many other factors including value for money, uniqueness, usability and usefulness during my iPhone App testing sessions during 2013. Each of these Apps have been downloaded a

Android App Testing Overview  The Android phones, which, let's face it, consist of an ever-growing number of phones, is emerging as a serious contender in the fight to secure domination in the mobile market. Coming into the fight late is always an uphill struggle, and so once the hardware is good, the user (and customer) will be paying close attention to the Apps. This article answers some questions relating to mobile App testing and also offers some guidance as to how an Android App can be tested. Before an App is released, the developer needs to ensure their App is as defect-free as possible. As a professional Android App Tester, there are so many defects found that could have easily been detected if the App was tested prior to rushing it out for release. Although, an Android App can be relatively updated and re-released fairly quickly. The impact of a user leaving negative comments against an App can determine whether or not an App is successful or not, its as s

Mobile Phone Testing: iPhone vs  Android Testing The fasting growing area within software testing is the mobile app domain. Applications developed for mobile platforms such as Apple's marketing leading iPhone and also the less popular Android platform are being tested using the same methodology that was used earlier for desktop and web based applications. There are companies which spend tens of thousands of dollars for mobile app testing projects. This is not only due to the fact that the mobile domain is ever increasing and so companies are feeling the need to contribute, but also due to the sensitivity of data which is a critical factor in the success of any mobile app. People whose data gets stolen or robbed from mobile applications are very unlikely to give it another try, as the data can pertain to personal information with respect to the customer. For iPhone and iPad applications, we find that the audience tends to be in the young 20s or early 30s. As iPhone

Finding a Mobile App Testing Company As the field of software engineering grows, new domains are explored. One of those domains is the mobile app testing domain. It is a hot area, and a lot of money has been invested in this particular domain for projects related to mobile apps. These topics include iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Symbian applications. The mobile app domain has been expanding for quite some time now. Ever since the mobile platform got some stability, people have been keen to use mobile applications, ranging from everyday apps to business/highly complicated applications. We see more and more projects being made just for the mobile apps domain, as the customer requirements continue to increase. Naturally, when a business concern wants to choose a mobile app testing company there are many things to consider; for one, is the company repute good enough? or have they employed qualified software test engineers to complete the projects? It is a very common

How to Implement Website Testing? When it comes to web testing, web page or a website application, there are some general areas that website testing can focus on to ensure everything behaves as expected. The following list includes these areas for testing in no particular order, as each website owner will have their own areas of importance: 1. Functionality This area of website testing should focus on items such as; does every link on the website actually work and direct me to the expected page? If the website contains a form or application, then not only can we determine the basic behaviour, but also test items such as input fields using test techniques such as Boundary Value Analysis and Equivalence Partitioning. 2. Payments/e-commerce Many websites contain products or services to sell to website visitors. The most popular methods of payment such as PayPal and World Pay will provide methods of securing customer details from general view using HTTPS on the website

When to Implement Functional Testing? Functional Testing is probably the most widely used form of software testing in the Information Technology world today. The vast majority of software producing companies have tight budgets, tight deadlines and lots of competition. The main aim of this type of software testing is to answer the following question: Does the software do what it was designed to do? Software developments are nearly always driven by business requirements, as they form the reason why the software is being developed in the first place. Business requirements can be documented in several ways, either grouped under the one single banner of business requirements or separated into sections such as user requirements, functional requirements and system requirements etc. Functional Testing is typically planned to satisfy business requirements as a group or individually. Some requirements are not testable, which does not necessarily mean that there was a mistake, b

What is Acceptance Testing? Acceptance testing is normally the responsibility of the intended customer of the software under development. The testing is typically performed prior to the customer officially accepting the software product. The aim of this type of testing is not actually to find defects, but to provide a level of confidence in the software and to act as an assessment of the products readiness for deployment. A company may have paid a significant sum of money to a software development company to provide them with a product. So it is in the receiving company's best interests to perform some kind of test to ensure the product does what it was intended to do, and operates as expected. This type of testing may not be the last phase of software testing though, as depending on the software/system, an integration test may be required too. This type of software testing is also valid at other stages of the software development lifecycle, for example; A COTS(Comm

 Software Testing tips For iPad and iPad 2 With a healthy market presence, Apple's iPad has defied critics and continues to grow in popularity. Now able to run the latest iPhone IOS, the iPad has seen a wealth of innovative Apps created specifically for it. Now with the technologically advanced iPad 2 on the store shelves, more Apps are being developed to take advantage of the built-in camera functionality. This article provides tips and information to perform to ensure an App can be released with confidence to the market. Test on a real device The most common mistake when testing an App, is to test it on a simulator. While a simulator can give you clues to basic behaviour, such as screen layout and high-level functionality, there a several critical areas that will be missed. Firstly, the CPU and memory usage of the App cannot be detected by a simulator. The most infuriating behaviour of an App that a user sees is the App terminating without warning, or 'cras

The Most Important Software Testing Decision, iPhone App Case Study The launch of any software product is a tense time for the company who has developed it. It is at this point of the software development life-cycle that is probably the most important. There are critical questions to be answered, for example; how much testing has been done?, what is the impact of anything going wrong? To answer the question; how much testing has been performed can be fairly straight-forward to answer by reviewing the test documentation and conversing with the appropriate stakeholders. All too often though, the testing can be heavily focused on an environment that although was designed to replicate a customers environment, normally doesn't quite live up to expectations. This can result in a software product being released with a high risk of failing in the end-users environment, even though it was heavily tested. Companies who develop software should go the extra mile and ensure that