Quality Testing publishes interview on pairwise testing with Testcover.com CEO George Sherwood

Testcover.com service ideally suited to agile development

Colts Neck, NJ, USA | 22 November 2010 – Quality Testing, the world’s leading and fastest-growing social network and resource center for the software testing/QA community, interviewed Testcover.com CEO George Sherwood on the importance of pairwise testing generators. Quality Testing has published the content of the interview throughout its site including an overview on the Quality Testing home page, an appearance on the Quality Testing Featured Interviews page and a unique site page dedicated to the full interview. Quality Testing also published the interview on PRLog.org.

About Quality Testing
Quality Testing (QT) is the world’s leading and fastest-growing social network and resource center for the software testing/QA community where quality and testing professionals can meet and share best practices about software testing. QT is compatible with all popular web browsers and also offers an iPhone interface so the growing global testing community can access QT on the go. For more information visit the Quality Testing website.

About Testcover.com
Testcover.com offers a pairwise test case generator that helps testers get the results they need to develop optimal products and services in a fraction of the time, saving time and money on every project. Testcover.com is accessible via the cloud–a software as a service (SaaS) independent test design solution–and its Web Services Description Language (WSDL) interface enables ready integration with existing test tools. For more information visit Testcover.com, dial +1 732 299 4852 or email mgmt@testcover.com.

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Filed under all-pairs testing, cloud, news, pairwise, products, SaaS, services, Sherwood, software, software as a service, test case generator, test design, Testcover.com, testing, web services description language, WSDL

Tags: arrays, STAREAST

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Testcover.com performance research: A five-year summary

Colts Neck, NJ, USA | 25 October 2010 – Testcover.com released a summary of the company’s research activities during the last five years. The report is reprinted below for Testcover.com NEWS.

Introduction

The performance of a pairwise test case generator depends on two essential components: the number of test cases produced and the response time for generating them. Practical software engineering tools require an optimal balance between the two. A quick response with many test cases may present the test team with unnecessary work. On the other hand, a fast-paced development organization needs tools that can keep up. For this reason, Testcover.com’s research program involves ongoing improvements to both components, and the examples on our performance page report both.

Testcover.com’s research results are of interest to software engineering practitioners as well as researchers. Although some work is proprietary, we have shared many results in peer-reviewed publications and in conference presentations. This summary reports on Testcover.com’s research activities over the last five years and the impact of this work on service performance–number of test cases and response time.

Proprietary research

WSDL interface. In early 2010 Testcover.com introduced its WSDL interface to enable integration with other test tools. Although performance improvement was not the main objective, this WSDL implementation offers even faster response times compared with the HTML interface. When coupled with a test automation tool, the service has the potential to save even more time in the test design and execution process.

Test case search improvement. Unpublished research conducted this year has found significant response time improvements from an optimization of our search algorithm. Response time is reduced in small search spaces as well as large ones, with bigger reductions in the larger search spaces. Current plans call for introduction of the improvement in 2011.

Test case reduction. Testcover.com runs an ongoing research program to reduce the number of test cases generated by the service. For example, at STAREAST 2005 we demonstrated our results generating test cases for an HTML form. Test values were selected for 21 test factors, and 63 test cases were generated. Since this example was first shown, its results have been improved to 59 test cases (a reduction of more than 6%). The service has had thousands of such improvements in the last five years.

“Why WSDL?” Testcover.com CEO George Sherwood answers the question

Colts Neck, NJ, USA | 24 October 2010 – Testcover.com NEWS spoke with CEO George Sherwood about Testcover.com’s WSDL interface and how it advances software test design.

Q: What is WSDL?

A: WSDL (pronounced wiz-del) is a standard XML-based language for web services. Our WSDL interface enables other test tools to access the Testcover.com service and create test designs.

Q: Why did Testcover.com develop its WSDL interface?

A: There are so many ways to use pairwise testing, and so many good test tools already in use, that it made the most sense for testers. Customers already have invested in specialized tools for test automation, database testing, embedded software testing, and more. Developers of these tools can enhance their value by including pairwise technology through the WSDL interface. At the same time, the customer’s investment in current tools and training is preserved.

Q: When should I use WSDL?

A: Testcover.com offers two interfaces to the service, one using WSDL and the other HTML. With our HTML form interface, a user can design test cases using only a browser. The service is available wherever the internet goes, and no additional software is needed. As an XML-based language, WSDL offers improved transparency. In addition, our WSDL implementation offers even faster response times compared with the HTML interface.

Testcover.com announces pairwise testing for state machines

Colts Neck, NJ, USA | 23 October 2010 – Testcover.com today announced support for pairwise testing of finite state machines. The company has provided test models, procedures and examples on its website to support this powerful capability. Software developers who use state machines to model their systems now have a direct way to generate test cases with pairwise coverage.

Pairwise (or all-pairs) testing is a software test design method that includes all pairs of test values in the set of test cases. Engineers use pairwise designs to test complex software systems with a minimal number of test cases. The technique has been used to generate configurations, input data and database tables for testing. Now users can consistently apply pairwise testing to the behavior of a system, not just its configurations and data values. Testcover.com CEO George Sherwood said, “This is an important innovation for practicing software engineers. It combines the efficiency of pairwise testing with the state machine’s precise description of system behavior.”

Testcover.com’s online examples demonstrate pairwise testing both for traditional finite state machines as well as for UML state machines with multiple regions. “We chose the examples in our tutorial to show practicality and versatility,” Sherwood said. “One example uses a traditional finite state machine to represent high-level states (idle, production or test) of an application running on either of two networked hosts. Cases are designed to test a simple control program that selects a database and starts the application. Another example–a simplified thermostat–shows the method’s versatility. Test cases are created from a UML state machine diagram with three regions, for setting the temperature, and for controlling the temperature and fan. Different test models are defined here to meet different testing objectives.”

Testcover.com offers 30-day trial in SQE’s Better Software Magazine

Colts Neck, NJ, USA | 07 October 2010 – Testcover.com has put a 30-day trial of the world’s best pairwise test case generator at the fingertips of Better Software Magazine readers. On page 20 of BSM’s September/October issue, adjacent to an article by Microsoft’s BJ Rollison entitled Simplify Your Combinatorial Testing, Testcover.com provided an Activation Code for the trial. Readers can visit the Testcover.com site, click the large graphic marked BSM 30-DAY TRIAL, input the code and in seconds begin using the full Testcover.com service.

To use the service the user simply chooses which test factors are required and the Testcover.com generator produces the test cases that cover all pairs of test factor values, minimizing the number of test cases and maximizing test efficiency with a statistically complete test plan. Compared to other methods, such as using orthogonal arrays or typical pairwise testing generators, Testcover.com provides significant advances in test case efficiency, response time and ease of use.

About Testcover.com
Testcover.com offers a pairwise test case generator that helps testers get the results they need to develop optimal products and services in a fraction of the time, saving time and money on every project. Testcover.com is a software as a service (SaaS) independent test design solution and its Web Services Description Language (WSDL) interface enables ready integration with existing test tools. For more information visit http://testcover.com, dial +1 732 299 4852 or email mgmt@testcover.com.

New customers off and running (test cases) with Testcover.com

Colts Neck, NJ, USA | 04 June 2010 – Testcover.com added three new customers for its online test case generator service in recent weeks. Testcover.com significantly advances system test design whether software engineers are testing embedded software, drivers for peripherals or web applications, improving test efficiency by reducing the number of test cases while improving defect discovery.

One of Testcover.com’s customers recently ran 64 HTML jobs in one day as three of its users generated test cases via the Testcover website, designing all the tests they needed right in their browsers. While that customer is using Testcover.com as an independent test solution, for the past month another customer has been using Testcover.com’s Web Services Description Language (WSDL) interface so its test tools  can use the Testcover.com test case generator.

Two global corporations now using Testcover.com’s advanced test case generator service

The two join researchers at universities across several world regions using Testcover.com

Colts Neck, NJ, USA | 02 May 2010 – Testcover.com announced that two global organizations are now using its advanced test case generator service. The company, currently bound by non-disclosure agreements with these customers, characterized one as a global infrastructure, finance and media corporation that specializes in groundbreaking innovations across a range of products from everyday household items to advanced fuel cell technology. The other is a leading international provider of digital document management technology and services that recently was named a 2010 Outsourcing Excellence Award winner by the Outsourcing Center.

The two multinationals join researchers and students at major universities in the Americas, EMEA and APAC who are also using the Testcover.com solution. “The diversity of organizations currently using the product reflects that Testcover.com is an ideal test design solution for virtually any industry or sector including financial, healthcare, retail, telecommunications, transportation, education or government, whether you have three testers or 300,” said Testcover.com CEO George Sherwood.

About Testcover.com
Testcover.com offers a pairwise test case generator that helps testers get the results they need to develop optimal products and services in a fraction of the time, saving time and money on every project. Testcover.com is a software as a service (SaaS) independent test design solution and its Web Services Description Language (WSDL) interface enables ready integration with existing test tools. For more information visit http://testcover.com, dial +1 732 299 4852 or email mgmt@testcover.com.