What is software quality?

Quality software is reasonably bug-free,delivered on time and within budget,meets requirements and/or expectations,and is maintainable.However,quality is obviously a subjective term.It will depend on who the customer is and their overall influence in the scheme of things.A wide-angle view of the customers of a software development project might include end-users,customer acceptance testers,customer contract officers,customer management,future software maintenance engineers,stockholders,magazine columnists,etc.Each type of a customer will have their own slant on 'quality' - the accounting department might define quality in terms of profits while an end-user might define quality as user-friendly and bug-free.

What is software quality?

Quality software is reasonably bug-free,delivered on time and within budget,meets requirements and/or expectations,and is maintainable.However,quality is obviously a subjective term.It will depend on who the customer is and their overall influence in the scheme of things.A wide-angle view of the customers of a software development project might include end-users,customer acceptance testers,customer contract officers,customer management,future software maintenance engineers,stockholders,magazine columnists,etc.Each type of a customer will have their own slant on 'quality' - the accounting department might define quality in terms of profits while an end-user might define quality as user-friendly and bug-free.

What is software quality?

Quality software is reasonably bug-free,delivered on time and within budget,meets requirements and/or expectations,and is maintainable.However,quality is obviously a subjective term.It will depend on who the customer is and their overall influence in the scheme of things.A wide-angle view of the customers of a software development project might include end-users,customer acceptance testers,customer contract officers,customer management,future software maintenance engineers,stockholders,magazine columnists,etc.Each type of a customer will have their own slant on 'quality' - the accounting department might define quality in terms of profits while an end-user might define quality as user-friendly and bug-free.

FAQ'S on Software Testing - 3

What are 5 common problems in the software development process?

Poor requirements - if requirements are unclear,incomplete,too general, and not testable,there will be problems.
- Unrealistic schedule - if too much of work is crammed in too little time,problems are inevitable.
- Inadequate testing - on one will know whether or not the program is any good until the customer complains or systems crash.
- Futurities - requests to pile on new features after development is underway; extremely common.
- Miscommunication - if developers dont know whats needed or customers have erroneous expectations,problems are guaranteed.

Microsoft to back Flash

Microsoft has decided to support Adobe's Flash technology on its Windows mobile platform apart from its own Silverlight multimedia technology.
This is part of the software major's attempt to promote interoperability for rival systems and stave off criticsm that it is not doing enough on that front.
As part of this,Microsoft has licenced Adobe Flash Lite,the Flash player for mobile devices,and LE software,which will enable Windows Mobile users to view PDF documents.
This means that Windows Mobile users will be able to view rich web content through Internet Explorer using either Flash or Silverlight.
Similarly, Microsoft has made available both Live Search and Google Maps on Windows Mobile phones.

Secure mail's new version

Secure computing Corporation has unveiled a new version of Secure Mail,its email security solution.
According to the corporation,the new version will be able to process more than seven million messages a day in a single appliance.This will improve performance by 700 percent.
Secure Mail is an integrated messaging security solution focused on protecting mail environments,enforcing critical mail flow and compliance-related policies.
It also encrypts sensitive email materials and delivers inbound and outbound email security in a single platform.
The enhancements are meant to deal with the large mail flow in the Internet at present.

Windows Vista SP1 is here

Windows Vista users will be able to download a major package of updates and security fixes from Tuesday.
The free service pack 1, as Microsoft terms it,has been anticipated for months.
Interestingly, it was the online retailer, Amazon, which let out the news about SP1.
Microsoft had merely stated that it would release SP1 by mid march.
The package will be put up in the Windows Update site of microsoft for Vista users.
It is said that SP1 bundles together all the updates issued for Vista since its release last january.It is meant to improve the operating system's reliability,security and performance.Those computer users who prefer automatic uploads may have to wait till mid of April.

FAQ's on Software Testing - 2

What is Verification? Validation?

Verification typically involves reviews and meetings to evaluate documents,plans,code,requirements,and specifications.This can be done with checklists,issues lists,Walkthroughs,and inspection meetings.
Validation typically involves actual testing and takes place after verifications are completed.The term 'IV & V' refers to independent Verification and Validation.

What is 'Walkthrough'?

A 'Walkthrough' is an informal meeting for evaluation yr informational purposes.Little or no preparation is usually required.

What is an 'inspection'?

An inspection is more formalized than a 'Walkthrough',typically with 3-8 people including a moderator,reader,and a recorder to take notes.The subject of the inspection is typically a document such as a requirements spec or a test plan,and the purpose is to find problems and see whats missing,not to fix anything.Attendees should prepare for this type of meeting by reading thru the document; most problems will be found during this preparation.The result of the inspection meeting should be a written report.Thorough preparation for inspections is difficult,painstaking work,but is one of the most cost effective methods of ensuring quality.Employees who are most skilled at inspections are like the 'eldest brother' in the parable in 'why is it often hard for organizations to get serious about quality assurance?'.Their skill may have low visibility but they are extremely valuable to any software development organization,since bug prevention is far more cost-effective than bug detection.

FAQ's on Software Testing - 1

How can new software QA processes be introduced in an existing organization?

- A lot depends on the size of the organization and the risks involved.For large organizations with high risk (in terms of lives or property) projects,serious management buy-in is required and a formalized QA process is necessary.
- Where the risk is lower,management and organizational buy-in and QA implementation may be a slower,step-at-a-time process.QA process should be balanced with productivity so as to keep bureaucracy from getting out of hand.
- For small groups of projects,a more ad-hoc process may be appropriate,depending on the type of customers and projects.A lot will depend on team leads or managers,feedback to developers,and ensuring adequate communications among customers,managers,developers,and testers.
- The most value for effort will often be in
(a) requirements management processes,with a goal of clear,complete,testable requirement specifications embodied in requirements or design documentation,or in 'agile'-type environments extensive continuous coordination with end -users,
(b) design inspections and code inspections,and
(c) post-mortems/retrospectives.
- Other possibilities include incremental self-managed team approaches such as 'Kaizen'methods of continuous process improvement,the Deming-Shewhart Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle,and others.