Latest Posts - Page 96 of 194

March 2, 2020February 25, 2020 Special Topics

Best Practice Urban Legends – Not Quite the Best

Urban legends cover a broad range of topics and often have a feel of being correct, even when they are not. This phenomenon is not restricted to saying “Beetle Juice” three times. There are all sorts of urban legends that we run into, and they extend into the world of best practices. These examples feel like they are the right thing to do, but may even be the opposite. The Foolishness of Crowds Many of the problems with best practices devolving into urban legends territory seem to be rooted in groupthink. We do not always speak our minds, nor do we question enough. When we are worried about looking foolish, silence is often the path to take. However, this can... Read more

February 28, 2020February 23, 2020 Special Topics

The Cost of The Right Decision – Is It Worth It?

Software developers and designers are often asked for a recommendation to approach a solution. The implication is that we know the right decision. We often join in on this assumption and will debate or argue that our way is the best option. While there may be a “best approach” to our problems, it is worth digging deeper into the costs associated with the right decision. Arguing For The Right Decision The first hurdle to overcome in assessing cost is debating the options. When there is a clear-cut approach that is the best one, then we can often decide and move on. On the other hand, there are more often going to be a few solutions that are similar, and a... Read more

Exception Testing Dependency Testing Parameterized Testing Running JUnit Tests

February 27, 2020February 20, 2020 Integrate Testing Into Your Development Flow Testing

TestNG Testing Types: A Comprehensive Look Into How To Use Them

Welcome to the next episode in our new series “Integrating testing into your development flow”. Today we are going to be looking at “TestNG Testing Types: A Comprehensive Look Into How To Use Them”. In our first few presentations, we covered how to build the documentation for a test strategy and test plan. These documents are useful to help the business clearly define the software requirements that both the developers and testers will use to test the software. Then, we went into how unit tests fit into the Software Test Life Cycle and looked at some examples. Previously, we walked through how to get started with TestNG and create some test cases. Today we are going to move into the... Read more

February 26, 2020February 20, 2020 Software Architecture From Scratch

Software Architecture Deliverables – Provide The Story

It is time to end another season. At this point, we need to revisit the idea of software architecture deliverables. In particular, we should spend some time thinking about how we communicate our architecture. Multiple Audiences for Software Architecture Deliverables First and foremost, there are a couple of levels of audiences that your deliverables will need to address. This situation is always one of the most challenging to handle correctly. Fortunately, we have other types of documents to learn from. We can look to similar deliverables like an RFP (or response to an RFP) for a structure and approach that makes sense. A Tiered Response Our prior discussions have covered this sort of “tiered response” or communication. We can craft... Read more

February 24, 2020February 19, 2020 Software Architecture From Scratch

Software Architecture Best Practices – Essential Ideas

It is time to wrap up the season of software architecture from scratch. We have covered a broad range of topics and now are able to look over them as a whole. There are common themes across the various areas that point us to software architecture best practices. Here are a few core concepts we should take from this season. Clarity is Key We have to communicate our results. These deliverables are essential in making our work valuable. Think about it, even the best architectural design is useless if it can not be implemented. When we fail to properly communicate our ideas, we reduce the likelihood of successful implementation. Therefore, pay attention to the details and note them in your... Read more

February 21, 2020February 10, 2020 Software Architecture From Scratch

Middle Tier Architecture – Designing The Business Rules

We have looked at a broad range of topics this season. However, it is time for us to tackle the middle tier architecture. Thus, we need to consider process steps (or flow) and look for commonality among the problems we solve. This area is not the most obvious to architect. However, it is an essential piece of the final solution. Middle Tier Architecture As We Go One of the challenges with the middle tier architecture is that it tends to get built over time. We design the front and back ends of the application. However, little time is spent on business rules and core logic. Data items and visual controls are more concrete for us to work with. The logic... Read more