Issue 111: A one line of code caused a $60 million loss
🕒 5 MIN READ | Published on: November 24, 2023This is the Software Testing Notes, a newsletter that goes out every Wednesday. I republish it here for sharing and referencing, but if you'd like to sign up you can do so right here:
Hello there! 👋
Welcome to the 111th edition of Software Testing Notes, a weekly newsletter featuring must-read content on Software Testing. I hope this week has been good for you so far.
I read about a fascinating story about how a coding error in a software update caused a widespread system malfunction at AT&T in 1990, resulting in a $60 million loss.
How one line of code caused a $60 million loss
The error, involving a misplaced break statement in a C program, led to data overwrites and system resets, causing phone service disruptions for 60,000 people, a 50% failure rate in call connections, and delays for 500 airline flights. The software patch was not tested, bypassing the usual rigorous testing process.
Hope you enjoy the story along with many interesting articles that I have curated for you this week. So, Let’s dive in.
🧙 Sponsor - Test Dev Jobs
Test Dev Jobs makes it easy to find all on site and remote jobs in software testing including jobs in functional testing, automation testing, performance and security testing. It has over 230+ jobs curated so far across multiple locations.
📚 Testing
Navigating Uncertainty: QA Life In a Shifting Landscape by Oleksandr Strukov
I liked the writing style of Oleksandr Strukov in this article as he delve into the crucial role of QA amidst organizational challenges with a vivid portrayal of the testing landscape. The article emphasizes the importance of a clear mission and vision, serving as a guide for QA professionals to navigate the chaos, prioritize tasks, and ensure the delivery of impactful features aligned with managerial objectives.
Testing Value by Jason Arbon
An insightful piece by Jason Arbon emphasizing the challenge of effectively communicating the value of testing, identifying bugs, coverage, and quality/risk assessment as the core components of testing value.
Don't Call It A Bug by Elizabeth Zagroba
communication and collaboration stands at the top of every software success. Elizabeth Zagroba explains it’s importance and shares her experience on how she found that labeling issues as feature requests instead of bugs resulted in quicker resolution and less conflict within the team.
How AI Is Transforming the Future of Software Testing by Dennis Martinez
Using AI in software testing when done right can bring a tremendous advantages such as increased efficiency, improved accuracy, and the ability to analyze and predict testing trends. Dennis Martinez shares his thoughts on the current usage of AI in software testing and its potential to improve efficiency and quality.
Integration Testing And Why Testers Are Not The Customer by Wayne Roseberry
Putting your legs in a customer shoes can help you understand the product better from the customer perspective. But there’s a downside that you must be aware of. Wayne Roseberry shares a story about integration testing in Microsoft Office and how they used scenario testing to focus on specific user scenarios. However, they encountered a problem when testers started thinking like customers and trying to find workarounds instead of reporting bugs.
➜ Read all curated stuff on Software Testing.
⚙️ Automation
The Struggle for Microservice Integration Testing
The blogpost discusses the challenges of automated integration testing in modern microservices architectures and explores potential solutions.
Our Playwright testing standards at Houseful by Boyana Staneva
Testing standards helps pave the way for successful testing. This article by Boyana Staneva shares what testing standards and guidelines they used for Playwright for test automation at Houseful and how these standards aim to improve code readability, reusability, and ease of onboarding for new team members.
Mobile UI testing with Maestro by Paul Samuels
Wanna learn how to use Maestro to write DSL in Kotlin to generate YAML files for defining test flows? This article by Paul Samuels demonstrates how to build and run commands using the DSL, and how to centralize knowledge by implementing the Page Object pattern and use of the @DslMarker annotation for scope control.
Solving the Integration Testing Puzzle with Contract Testing by Bas Dijkstra
A great video of Bas Dijkstra exploring contract testing to solve integration testing problems in distributed systems. Bas Dijkstra demonstrates how both Pack Flow and the open source pack broker support consumer-driven contract testing. If you are keen on learning about contract testing with Pact and C#, here is your chance.
How long should an automated test pack take to run? And what should we do about it? by Mike Harris
Another nice writeup by Mike Harris discussing how factors such as the team's cycle time and whether the test pack's running time is a constraint on development affects test runs and how discussion about running time and collaboration with developers can help improve it.
➜ Read all curated stuff on Software Testing Automation.
💨 Performance
Waterfall or Agile: Testing for Performance - Where to Start? by Ravisuriya Eswara
Ravisuriya Eswara discusses the importance of tailoring testing practices to the Agile context and shares approach to testing for performance from the beginning of development.
Furthermore, he has also written about Is Performance a Perception to an Engineer and User?
➜ Read all curated stuff on Performance Testing.
🛡️ Security
Configuring Burp Suite with Android Emulators or Android Devices
With Burp Suite, it’s possible to test web applications and mobile apps using a rooted Android device or Live Emulators. Follow this article step by step to learn how.
Additionally also read What is Burp Suite? Unraveling the Power of a Security Testing Marvel
How Kali Linux Can Help Security Test Your Network by Jack Wallen
Kali Linux is a specialized distribution designed for penetration testing with a wide array of pre-installed tools for ethical hacking. shares get and install Kali Linux and provides an example of how to get started with pentesting with wpscan, which scans your WordPress deployments for issues.
➜ Read all curated stuff on Security Testing.
🌞 Accessibility
iOS Accessibility Test Plan by moba11y.com
This article discusses the importance of creating an efficient iOS Accessibility Test Plan with an example test plan and highlights the significance of Voice Control testing along with text size, keyboard-only, switch control, color contrast, and reduced motion testing.
➜ Read all curated stuff on Accessibility Testing.
🛠️ Resources & Tools
RecipeUI — An open-source Postman alternative with type safety built in. Catch your API requests before they fail with TypeScript and autocomplete. Enhance your workflows with auto-generated docs and reusable API templates.
Unlighthouse — is Open source, fully configurable tool that scans your entire site using Google Lighthouse, with a modern UI, minimal config and smart sampling.
Toxiproxy — is a TCP proxy to simulate network and system conditions for chaos and resiliency testing.
📝 List of Software Testers
It's hard to find good articles, podcasts on Software Testing. Even hard to find people who create them. Are you also looking for amazing software testers to follow or read their content ? check out this page dedicated to software testers.
Do you also create content around Software Testing ? Submit yours here and I will add it to the list.
🎁 Bonus Content
📌 OTHER INTERESTING STUFF
- Personal Discipline: What Is It and How To Create One
- To improve as an engineer, get better at requesting (and receiving) feedback
- Feeling Stressed? Try this time-tested Brain Dump Technique
⭐ LAST WEEK'S MOST READ
- Why You Need a GitHub Portfolio as a Tester: Showcasing Bugs with Style! by ResterTest
- What does a QA Lead Do? by Jayateerth Katti
- Secret sauce to great testing is to change the managers by Maaret Pyhäjärvi
😂 And Finally,
After 5 hours of coding/Testing 🤣
Keep Smiling and have a fun week.
📨 Send Me Your Articles, Tutorials, Tools!
Wrote something? Send links via Direct Message on Twitter @thetestingkit (details here). If you have any suggestions for improvement or corrections, feel free to reply to this email.
Thanks to everyone for subscribing and reading!
Happy Testing!
Pritesh(@priteshusdadiya)
Did You Enjoy This?
Then consider joining the 2,667 other people getting the Software Testing Notes newsletter. It's a collection of fascinating finds from my week, about wide range of topics surrounding software testing and whatever else catches my interest.