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Software Quality Assurance & Testing

Launched Q&A site for software quality control experts, automation engineers, and software testers.

Announcements

This site will allow anyone interested in QA at any level of experience ask any QA related questions from methodologies to tools. – Todd Bumbarger Jun 9 '10 at 17:13
So in other words, you want SO-like SQAforums? – Helen Jun 21 '10 at 17:40
5  
There are two sites that could /potentially/ roll up with this site: testing.stackexchange.com and exchange.softwaretestingclub.com – Alan Sep 8 '10 at 3:48
show 10 more announcements
no discussions yet discuss this proposal

merged with Selenium Apr 26 '11 at 18:10

87 Example Questions (10 closed)

active newest votes
up vote 22 down vote
What is the difference between integration and regression testing?
added by percent20 Jun 2 '10 at 18:20
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up vote 22 down vote
What makes a good software tester?
added by Helen Jun 10 '10 at 21:25
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up vote 20 down vote
At what stage of the software development lifecycle do you automate your tests?
added by Todd Bumbarger Jun 2 '10 at 16:36
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Good question regarding QA automation that can be answered from any one in the industry, regardless of what sdlc they use. – Todd Bumbarger Jun 2 '10 at 17:18
up vote 20 down vote
Our management thinks if developers are doing unit tests, it's good enough. How can we convince them other testing is needed?
added by Chris W. Rea Jun 3 '10 at 14:43
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up vote 19 down vote
What can't be tested by automation?
added by Dave Hunt Jun 8 '10 at 16:50
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Perhaps a better way to approach this question would be "How do I create an automated test for X?" – John Nelson Jun 9 '10 at 13:55
Sure. I was hinting at checking versus testing. – Dave Hunt Jun 9 '10 at 14:17
Yeah. Be specific :-) The purpose of this stage is to figure out what kinds of questions are on-topic/off-topic. – John Nelson Jun 9 '10 at 17:06
1  
I think this question is valid as it is, and a common interview question. Your suggestion is fine as another example of a on-topic question. – Dave Hunt Jun 11 '10 at 8:21
up vote 12 down vote
Do I need to know how to program to be a professional software tester?
added by Steve Hook Jun 3 '10 at 16:40
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up vote 12 down vote
What kind of traits and experiences should an employer look for when hiring software testers?
added by Jessie Jun 3 '10 at 17:23
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up vote 8 down vote
What are the best software testing and QA blogs?
added by Helen Jun 10 '10 at 20:34
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best is too subjective for any tester to effectively answer – David Heise Sep 10 '10 at 5:53
Agree that the word 'best' is troublesome. A better question would be 'What testing blogs do you get inspiration from?' – Rikard Edgren Sep 16 '10 at 8:36
up vote 8 down vote
What information should be included in a bug/defect report?
added by Michael Cheng Jun 23 '10 at 17:20
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I'd start here chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html :) – warren Jul 23 '10 at 15:05
1  
FYI: These are just example questions, they aren't meant to be answered here ;) – Michael Cheng Jul 29 '10 at 2:42
up vote 8 down vote
What type of training do you need to become a software tester?
added by Tester101 Jul 14 '10 at 12:25
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personally, I don't think this one has any distinct answers - but as a CW it'd be fine – warren Jul 16 '10 at 12:42
the best testers can come from just about any discipline. Hmm. but formal training? not sure. – Aaron B. Jul 21 '10 at 4:09
up vote 6 down vote
How can I tell Quicktest Pro to treat an object that it can't recognize as one it already knows?
added by Todd Bumbarger Jun 2 '10 at 16:55
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1  
On topic regarding QA automation, specifically QTP. – Todd Bumbarger Jun 2 '10 at 17:11
+1 This is a great example question, because it demonstrates a specific problem that you need help with, and has a definitive answer. – John Nelson Jun 9 '10 at 13:58
up vote 6 down vote
How can I use a .NET assembly from TestComplete?
added by John Nelson Jun 2 '10 at 16:56
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Good question specific to both QA automation and the test complete tool. – Todd Bumbarger Jun 2 '10 at 17:12
up vote 6 down vote
What kind of professional certifications are available for software quality assurance?
added by Todd Bumbarger Jun 3 '10 at 13:06
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up vote 6 down vote
What tools exist for test case management?
added by Helen Jun 10 '10 at 20:48
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Good example of a tool question, neutral and covers more than one product. – chills42 Jun 21 '10 at 15:37
up vote 5 down vote
How do you measure completeness of automation?
added by Todd Bumbarger Jun 2 '10 at 16:16
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up vote 5 down vote
What tools are available to automate GUI testing with Windows applications?
added by user452 Jun 2 '10 at 20:01
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up vote 5 down vote
How can I convince non-believers that testing is important?
added by Gordon Gustafson Jun 24 '10 at 0:27
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up vote 5 down vote
How can I tell if my testing was effective enough?
added by Gordon Gustafson Jul 4 '10 at 23:21
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up vote 5 down vote
Should QA be the "quality gatekeeper" and decide if a build goes out or not?
added by Aaron B. Jul 21 '10 at 3:45
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I like where it's going, but it seems a little too open-ended/arguable. – stack Jul 29 '10 at 23:35
up vote 5 down vote
Should QA be involved in code reviews, or only in the testing/verification stages?
added by warren Jul 23 '10 at 15:06
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Can the tester read and understand the code? – jasnow Sep 4 '10 at 21:01
up vote 4 down vote
How do I set a break point to debug a test script in [insert automated testing tool]?
added by John Nelson Jun 2 '10 at 17:04
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question is too basic – John Nelson Jun 2 '10 at 17:05
1  
I think these types of questions should be allowed; not everybody using these tools will necessarily be pros already. I'm sure they'll get "RTFM" in the comments, but there could also be some valuable answers to basic questions. – Chris W. Rea Jun 3 '10 at 14:40
@Chris okay, I can see your point. It's actually much more "answerable" than a lot of the other proposed questions. I'm sold :-) – John Nelson Jun 3 '10 at 14:52
up vote 4 down vote
How do I wait for an object to appear in AUT using [TestComplete]?
added by Helen Jun 10 '10 at 21:03
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up vote 4 down vote
What is the difference between Re-test and Regression Test?
added by Cristian Jun 18 '10 at 2:08
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up vote 4 down vote
What's a good, hard to game quality metric?
added by ascarb Jun 22 '10 at 22:55
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So, what is it that bugged you about this question? Just wording, or do you feel discussion about quality metrics not be discussed, or something else? – ascarb Jul 9 '10 at 18:29
Actually, the vote should have been positive. Blame my non-native english to misunderstand the question :-) – Hakan Jul 10 '10 at 6:30
Thanks for checking it! – ascarb Jul 11 '10 at 1:59
up vote 4 down vote
What are some design-for-testability features I can encourage my developers to use in their [Web] application?
added by Crispy Jul 8 '10 at 15:45
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up vote 4 down vote
What can be done to get developers to view testing as an important part of development?
added by Tester101 Jul 14 '10 at 12:12
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up vote 4 down vote
How do you track QA test progress in an agile environment? (or...do you?)
added by Aaron B., edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jul 21 '10 at 9:42
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up vote 3 down vote
How can you tell which test automation tool is best for your needs?
added by TristaanOgre Jun 3 '10 at 15:05
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4  
This is a great generalization of the kinds of questions that would be ideal: "When is tool A more appropriate to use over tool B?", however I think the question itself is a bit like saying "How can you tell which fruit is your favorite?" – John Nelson Jun 3 '10 at 16:37
I agree with John Nelson that this question is too general, but more specific questions ("Is X a good tool for situation Z?" or "Is X or Y better for collecting data of type W?") would be great here. – Lizard Aug 3 '10 at 22:31
up vote 3 down vote
What are some good Selenium test development patterns that are good to follow?
added by ascarb, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jul 15 '10 at 13:46
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This question would have been a lot better if it wasn't specific to selenium. Development patterns should not be specific to the tool you use. All the same, good question. – Johan Jul 15 '10 at 11:42
You can might want to ask this question on the Selenium forum too. – jasnow Sep 4 '10 at 21:04
up vote 3 down vote
What is difference between Sanity test and smoke test?
added by Isentropic Jun 23 '10 at 6:33
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semantics. And maybe smoke. :) – Aaron B. Jul 21 '10 at 3:44
up vote 3 down vote
What is the best practice for decision "it is enough testing"
added by Ula Karzelek Jul 2 '10 at 21:49
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up vote 3 down vote
What testing alternatives for Java are there to JUnit?
added by Gordon Gustafson, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jul 10 '10 at 1:58
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Personally, I like TestNG. It's got all of JUnit's features but the test configuration and testsuite definition is more flexible, it handles test failure and interdependency better, and there's a well-featured reporting mechanism already in place so you don't have to spend your time mucking about trying to make the reports pretty. TestNG has got plugins for Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, and NetBeans, it can be triggered with an ant task, and it's free. Here's the web site: testng.org/doc/index.html Here's the author's Google Tech Talk: youtube.com/watch?v=TtcEpryRy44 – Logan Jul 7 '10 at 19:56
@Logan: There's really no need to answer the example questions - the goal is to decide if they are good or bad for the given site proposal. – Helen Jul 7 '10 at 21:19
up vote 2 down vote
What's more important for software QA professionals: more experience, or better certifications? [closed]
added by Chris W. Rea Jun 3 '10 at 14:35
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closed as off topic by alfredozn, Damien, Dave Hunt, Tester101, Todd Bumbarger Jul 19 '10 at 17:31

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

up vote 2 down vote
What are the inspirational books you read to motivate your testing?
added by ascarb Jun 22 '10 at 22:56
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Care to explain why? At both GTAC, and CAST I've been asked this question, or had discussions around it. – ascarb Jul 6 '10 at 13:30
I love getting book recommendations from other testers. Maybe not "inspirational" and "motivating" in that warm fuzzy kind of way, but I'm glad someone told me about Beautiful Testing, and this is the kind of site where I'd look for suggestions like that. – Lizard Aug 3 '10 at 21:01
up vote 2 down vote
Recommended TCM (test case management) tools - anything you've used that works especially well in an agile environment?
added by Aaron B., edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jul 21 '10 at 9:44
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up vote 2 down vote
How do you define a "well-written bug"?
added by Logan Aug 3 '10 at 9:43
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up vote 2 down vote
What code and binary analysis approaches can one use to determine high risk areas in software?
added by Alan Sep 5 '10 at 17:38
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up vote 2 down vote
How would you teach exploratory testing to someone new to the game?
added by CBA Sep 10 '10 at 13:04
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up vote 1 down vote
What is exploratory testing?
added by Todd Bumbarger Jun 2 '10 at 16:20
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Lots of info on this everywhere, but lots of different opinions on how it works in their business environment. – Todd Bumbarger Jun 2 '10 at 17:07
+1 - this question will be a rat-hole. Ask about ET in context (ack), and there will be a better discusion. – Alan Sep 5 '10 at 17:47
I agree w/ above thus voting "not a good example" – Turker Sep 16 '10 at 0:07
Yes, the question in too open to provide meaningful answers. A better question would be 'What's your preferred (short) definition of Exploratory Testing?' – Rikard Edgren Sep 16 '10 at 8:38
up vote 1 down vote
What is alpha and beta testing?
added by Helen Jun 10 '10 at 20:27
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