One of the Wolves

And not only me — there are better, more qualified and exciting speakers making this CAST the best yet. If you’re interested, sign up now! It’s not too late.

Here’s a sneak peak at what to expect:

CAST 2009: The challenges of regulation, an interview with Jean Ann Harrison
CAST 2009: Understanding how much responsibility a testing team should have, an interview with Gerald M. Weinberg
CAST 2009: Challenging a classic idea in testing, an interview with Doug Hoffman
CAST 2009: Taking a closer look at scenario testing, an interview with Fiona Charles
CAST 2009: Test gurus Sabourin, Coulter preview keynotes

CAST CAST

I’d like to express this articulately some day, but for now I’ll just stand on the shoulders of greatness — and then correct him:

Given enough eyeballs, all shallow bugs are shallow. — Linus Torvalds Tim Coulter

Maybe it’s an economy of scale thing. e.g., When is there ever enough competent, manageable, able-to-fix-your-problem eyeballs?

Inferences, Testing linux, Testing

Complete personal plug, I must admit, but a recent interview with Rob Sabourin and I just made it to the web! Check it out:

http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/software-quality/cast-2009-test-gurus-sabourin-coulter-preview-keynotes/

The author and interviewer was Mike Kelly, a director for the Association for Software Testing and a “sometimes independent testing consultant” working from the midwest. He interviewed Rob and I about our upcoming speech titled, “Tim Bits: What I Learned About Software Testing at CAST 2009,″ which will likely be the most exciting thing for me since that time I went skydiving. I can’t wait for the speech — and in fact, the whole conference! — and I look forward to seeing you all there.

AST, CAST, Cool AST, CAST, conference

A friend sent me this video last night. Funny MLB 2k9 bug cluster with commentary.

Caution: Strong Language

Bugs bugs in the wild

A friend sparked me onto this article, and it’s topic is what I’ve been saying colloquially since college though the author says it profoundly better.

The conclusion: Software Engineering is very different than Computer Science, and it involves a human component not found in the ideas of traditional computer science programs (e.g., algorithms, compilers, etc.). It’s a beautiful read, and well worth checking out:

http://www.ddj.com/architect/217701907

PS: The struggle between choosing Rensselaer Polytechnic or Florida Tech for my college career came down to Florida Tech offering a Software Engineering program where Rensselaer Polytechnic didn’t. Though I couldn’t articulate it then, it had already seemed as if there was a fundamental difference between the two disciplines.

Cool software engineering

This is one of the oddest ones I’ve seen — and one of the easiest to reproduce, though it’s not straightforward.

UnitedHealthcare’s consumer website, myuhc.com, changes themes when you’re not expecting it. And all you have to do is click the back button.

Check out these two screenshots:

The first is what appears to be MyUHC’s newest website. The second is what happens when you read one of MyUHC’s articles, then click the back button. The second website looks a lot older, a lot less polished (graphics don’t align, less snazzy), though is apparently still functional.

What’s mysterious is the reproducibility. Earlier today, reproducing the theme change meant navigating to an article, pressing the back button, pressing the forward button once, then pressing the back button again. That was in Firefox. In IE, all I had to do was press the back button once, and the site mysteriously changed its look and content. Now, about six hours later, both Firefox and IE display the same behavior — but only sometimes.

Try it yourself.

First check out their article about swine flu (the first article in the list), then press the back button. If that doesn’t work, press the forward button, then the back button again. If that still doesn’t work, rinse lather repeat. It appears, too, that the only way to get the newer-looking website — and thus, the article about swine flu — back is to clear your cookies. Also, the url on what appears to be every page is “http://www.myuhc.com”. Shouldn’t there be something following the domain name?

Mysterious.

Update, 6/5/09: I found the following text in the “What’s New” section of the old MyUHC website:

New myuhc.com coming soon!

myuhc.com, is going through a complete redesign to better meet your needs. The new site will have enhanced tools and features; quicker and simpler access to these tools, and content that is easier to read and more detailed. Look for your new myuhc.com in June.

I guess they’re not done yet.

Bugs bugs in the wild, myuhc

For the longest time I’ve wondered what the painters across the street were doing.

Now I know.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/arts/design/08voge.html

Work art, Work

I saw Star Trek today and was given a little treat as I walked into the theater.

I used Fandango. I bought the tickets online, and then printed them using Fandango’s machine stationed in the movie theater lobby. Instead of getting the usual ticket and receipt, I was given this little extra:

Watchmen movie ticket for 03/09/09, printed on 05/29/09. (Taken w/ iPhone)

It was a ticket for Watchmen! Not only is Watchmen out of theaters, but the date the movie was intended to be shown was March 9th. If you look closely, on the bottom of each stub, you’ll see a printing date of May 29th — way past the showing date.

So the question is: Did Fandango’s machine erroneously print me an extra ticket, leading to this little tidbit? Or did I pay for a ticket I never picked up?

The world may never know.

Bugs, Testing bugs in the wild, fandango, Testing

Not only does the Google Earth plugin let me know it’s not supported in my environment, but it provides me with a link to more information. All in all, I think it’s beautiful.

My coworker said it’s like applauding the chef for washing his hands, as if there’s an expectation that all software should tell you such information. To me, it feels more like the chef personally apologizing for not having the linguine — and then telling me when to come back later!

More importantly, it’s almost as if I have a relationship with the company.

When I see error messages like these, it presents a level of polish that even on my first impression suggests a quality product. As a user, I appreciate it.

Testing beautiful error message, Google, linux

I’ve been doing a little introspection on my work habits lately and I’ve noticed how they differ in different settings.

For instance, I’m starting to find that in many cases, I would rather walk over to a local expert in my office than search for what I’m looking for on Google. The local expert is usually within my vicinity, many times in the same room, but Google is always right there, right at my computer. My question is: Am I a technical extrovert — a fancy name for a social butterfly in a field of (stereotypically) moths; or am I habitually lazy, consistently bugging the person who knows?

I would rationalize myself as an extrovert, and it turns out Myers-Briggs would too. But lazy?

Some habits at work are:

• Ask someone before searching Google.
• Walk to the person who will know the answer rather than talk over AIM or IRC.
• Talk to people in meetings (or spontaneously create them) instead of use email.
• Take notes on paper because I will forget many of my coworker’s “quick fixes,” like what command to use, or how to use it.

Put those in contrast with my habits at home:

• Google my error messages extensively.
• Research how to solve my specific task.
• Try out my hypotheses or find examples.
• In many ways, learn by doing.

And put that in contrast with my undergraduate career:

• Remember every word the professor said, taking notes that I probably won’t read.
• Learn by doing, especially when given specific homework assignments.

Is the difference in behavior the time pressure of the work environment? The effect of having knowledgeable people directly in my vicinity? An attribute of my extroversion? The result of having an authority figure?

I don’t know. And whatever it is, it’s ingrained, because I don’t think about it — or, I have to work to think about it when in context. But maybe that’s why they call it work.

Regardless. It’s clear I’d rather walk and talk than sit and research.

Questions, Work personality, Work