Methods & Tools - News, Facts & Comments Edition - May 2009

*** News *********************************************************

* Hungry Micro Focus Eats Borland Cadaver (and More)

Borland Software Corporation announced that Micro Focus International plc and Borland have entered into a definitive agreement under which Micro Focus will acquire all the outstanding shares of Borland in a cash merger transaction. Best know for its original Cobol product, Microfocus expands with this acquisition its portfolio of software development tools. The same day, it acquired the automated testing products of Compuware.

http://blog.martinig.ch/?p=282

------------------------------------------------------------------

* M&T Industry Press Releases Channel

You can follow press releases from software development tools vendors on http://www.softdevtools.com/modules/news/

*** Numbers ******************************************************

* Software Development Training Poll

The current M&T poll is asking: Do you use tools to automate execution of functional software tests? Go to www.methodsandtools.com/dynpoll/vote.php to participate and to see intermediate results.

*** Jobs Opening on SoftDevJobs.com ******************************

Find more than 130 open jobs on http://www.softdevjobs.com/recent

Posting of jobs is free. If your company is recruiting in the software development field, do not hesitate to use this board.

*** Linkopedia ***************************************************

Linkopedia April 2009

"The Optimal Team Size is Five" tries to answer the question "What is the optimal size of a team?"

Why cheap developers will cost you

Look below the UI for more effective and robust UI automated test case designs

Molybdenum is a test tool for web applications.

Jitr is a JUnit Integration Test Runner.

Developing a Complex External DSL

Defect Detection By Developers

Professional Frontend Engineering. This video covers the foundations of the discipline, some of its core ideas, and some of its best practices.

The Dysfunctional Daily Scrum Meeting. ScrumMasters show you how things can go wrong as they "play" a daily Scrum Meeting.

How I Can Code Twice As Fast As You. A video on text expander programs.

Find more interesting links on the software development links directory, the software development tools directory, the software development articles directory or the software development videos directory

*** Books ********************************************************

Implementing Automated Testing

This book presents an comprehensive treatement of the domain of software testing automation. The first part defines and describes test automation, proposing a business case for automation and discussing the pitfalls that should be avoided. The second part is a roadmap for test automation. It gives six keys for software testing automation payoff:

1. Know your requriments
2. Develop a strategy
3. Test your tools
4. Track progress and adjust
5. Implement the process
6. Put the right people in the process.

Four appendixes complete the book. They provide a process checklist, explain how automation applies to various testing types, disscuss tools evaluation and give a case study.

The fact that the autors have worked with the Defence industry might have affected the way the book was conceived and written: with structure and rigor. The discussions, recommandations, references and tools suggestions apply however to every software testing situation and not only to organization that are strongly process oriented. The aim of the book is to be a guide that can help to implement successfully automated software testing and it certainly achieve its objective.

Reference: "Implementing Automated Testing", Elfriede Dustin, Thom Garrett & Bernie Gauf, Addison Wesley.

Get more details on this book or buy it on amazon.com
Get more details on this book or buy it on amazon.co.uk

*** Conferences: www.softdevconferences.com **********************

* International Test Certification Weeks (ITCW)

Anaheim, CA - June 1-5, 2009
Boston, MA - June 22-26, 2009
Seattle, WA - July 20-24, 2009
St. Louis, MO - August 3-7, 2009

Full day in-depth Software Testing and QA courses taught by Leading Industry Experts in Software Testing & Quality

http://www.iist.org/stpw/

------------------------------------------------------------------

* Software & Systems Quality Conferences

Software & Systems Quality, September 14, Zurich, Switzerland 
http://www.sqs-conferences.com/ch/index.htm

Software & Systems Quality, September 24-25 2009, Stockholm, Sweden 
http://www.sqs-conferences.com/se/index.htm

Software & Systems Quality, September 29 - October 1, London, UK 
http://www.sqs-conferences.com/uk/index.htm

Software & Systems Quality, October 28-29 2009, Melbourne, Australia 
http://www.sqs-conferences.com/au/index.htm

------------------------------------------------------------------

* Better Software Conference & Expo, June 8-12 2009, Las Vegas, USA

Learn about the latest tools, trends, and issues regarding agile development, project management, people & teams, software testing & QA, software requirements, process improvement, metrics, and design & architecture.  Early Bird discount ending soon! Register by May 29, 2009 and save up to $300!

http://www.sqe.com/go?BSCE09M&T

------------------------------------------------------------------

* Code Generation 2009, June 16­18 2009, Cambridge, UK.

CG2009 brings developers and leading experts in code generation tools and technologies together in a unique, participative event. Whether you are a veteran or a novice with Domain-Specific Languages, MDA, Executable UML, Eclipse Modeling etc. you will benefit by taking part.

http://www.codegeneration.net/cg2009/

------------------------------------------------------------------

* Integrating Agile Conference, June 18 2009, Hoofddorp, The Netherlands

It’s time to permanently incorporate Agile in your organization. Get acquainted with Agile and discover how Agile can be integrated into your organization. Learn the true stories about Agile, hear about myths surrounding Agile and software development. Gain understanding of the highly disciplined process that Agile requires in order to achieve the best results.

http://www.agileconsortium.nl/en/conference.html

------------------------------------------------------------------

* Jazoon'09, June 22-25 2009, Zurich, Switzerland

Jazoon'09 will again attract famous Java experts and geeks to Zurich. In contrast to other events, Jazoon places emphasis on the active participation of the community and in turn invites everyone to contribute lectures on interesting research results, developments and practical experiences.

http://jazoon.com/

------------------------------------------------------------------

* Eclipse Time 2009, June 23-24 2009, Toulouse, France

Eclipse Time is a technical and strategic conference day about Eclipse. Many topics will be presented: strategic, technical, business cases. Attendees are technical people or managers from big companies, SMEs. A second day will be dedicated to training: OSGi, embedded, e4, modeling. Perfect place to meet Eclipse experts, committers, industrial companies!

http://www.eclipsetime.org

------------------------------------------------------------------

* ProjectWorld & World Congress for Business Analysts June 24-26, 2009, Baltimore, USA

PW&WCBA 2009 is in a new executive program format where each session pushes you beyond the PMBOK and the BABOK to real world industry challenges. New themes include Integrated Thinking Among Multiple Disciplines, Elevating your current PM & BA capabilities and Technology and Processes for Operational Alignment.

http://www.iirusa.com/projectworldjune

------------------------------------------------------------------

Conference of the Association for Software Testing (CAST 2009), July 13-16 2009, Colorado Springs, USA

The 4th Conference of the Association for Software Testing features; Jonathan Koomey, Jerry Weinberg, Mike Dwyer, Kevin Brennan, Rob Sabourin, Cem Kaner, James Bach, Fiona Charles, Michael Bolton, Scott Barber & Dawn Haynes. All with 1/3 Q&A. You won’t want to miss it!

http://www.CAST2009.org

------------------------------------------------------------------

* Agile 2009, August 24-28 2009, Chicago, USA

Attend Agile 2009 for access to the latest thinking in agile adoption. Bridge communities that rarely get a chance to exchange ideas and thoughts. Agile 2009 will be an exciting international conference about techniques and technologies, attitudes and policies, research and first-hand experience, from both the management and technical sides of agile software development.

http://agile2009.agilealliance.org/

------------------------------------------------------------------

* STARWEST 2009 Software Testing Analysis & Review Conference,

October 5-9 2009, Anaheim, USA

Providing the largest and most advanced testing forum, STARWEST delivers

the latest trends, technologies, and strategies in the industry today. Learn about new products, timely issues, and cutting-edge solutions from the best experts in the business. Register by September 4, 2009 and save up to $300!

http://www.sqe.com/go?SW09M&Tweb

------------------------------------------------------------------

* STPCon Fall 09, October 19-23 2009, Cambridge, USA

Join your software test and QA colleagues at STPCon Fall 09. Don't miss our new conference program featuring 5 conference tracks: Agile, Test Automation, Test Management, Performance, & "FutureTest!" Take advantage of our in-depth training courses, conference sessions featuring the industry's leading speakers, expo, networking, & more!

http://www.stpcon.com

------------------------------------------------------------------

* Practical Product Lines 2009, October 20-21 2009, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

PPL2009 is a new event for software professionals working in software or system product lines. With a focus on providing actionable guidance, PPL2009 is a unique opportunity to learn from other practitioners the secrets of successfully building and managing product lines.

http://www.practicalproductlines.org/ppl2009/

------------------------------------------------------------------

* QA&TEST, 21-23 October 2009, Bilbao, Spain

QA&TEST invites professionals of testing and QA Software to share their knowledge and experiences in the Conference. The Call for Papers started on December 1st and it’s still open. Don’t miss the opportunity to be recognised as an expert in your field of activity!

http://www.qatest.org/en/index.php

------------------------------------------------------------------

Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference, October 26-28, Portland, USA

The mission of The Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference (PNSQC) is to enable knowledge exchange to produce higher quality software. PNSQC 2009 will consist of one-day of workshops and a two-day technical program featuring thought provoking presentations on Moving Quality Forward.

http://www.pnsqc.org.

*** M&T News *****************************************************

* More than 1000 items in the Software Development Links Directory

SoftDevLinks.com is a new general directory for software developers, testers and managers. If you have a blog, a web site, distribute a tool or work a consulting company related to software development, do not hesitate to add a (free) link in this directory. Get enhanced visibility with reciprocal links.

http://www.softdevlinks.com/

------------------------------------------------------------------

* Methods & Tools Article Pipeline

In future issues, you will find articles on:
* Open-Source Messaging Servers
* Responsibility Driven Design with Mock Objects
* Agile coding and testing
* How to Quantify Quality: Finding Scales of Measure
* Scrum Product Owner Guide
* TDD, FDD and BDD Compared
* CMM and Scrum Combined
* Learning View
* Timing and Synchronization in Executable UML
* Test Automation Maturity
* The Spring Framework
* Ajax Security

==================================================================

The content of this publication cannot be reproduced without prior written
consent of the publisher - Copyright (C) 2009, Martinig & Associates