Monday

Category: Books

Your 10 Favorite SeniorDBA Blog Posts of 2016

Here’s the top 10 items you clicked on the most in 2016:

  1. 20 SQL Server DBA Interview Questions – Some sample questions you might be asked about in an interview for a DBA position. Also used by the hiring managers to make sure they have some relevant questions during your interview.
  2. Comparing SQL Server vs. Oracle License Cost – Looking at the difference in cost between SQL Server and Oracle.
  3. SQL Server and Windows 10 Compatibility – Quick instructions on using SQL Server Management Studio on a Windows 10 desktop.
  4. SQL Server Trace Flag List – List of available trace flags for use in SQL Server.
  5. Using PowerShell to Manage Audits – Using PowerShell as a powerful scripting tool that can manage your SQL Server audits.
  6. SQL Server TCP and UDP Ports – This post lists the ports and protocols required to communicate with an instance of SQL Server. This can be very helpful if you need to create or manage firewall rules blocking unauthorized access.
  7. SQL Server End-Of-Life Schedule – This is a useful reference if you need to know if your version of SQL Server is still supported, and when it will no longer be supported.
  8. Common Database Design Mistakes – I short list of common database design mistakes, and how to avoid them in your environment.
  9. Free eBooks from Microsoft Blog – A list of free ebooks from Microsoft, in a wide range of technical topics from SQL Server, Windows, Azure, etc.
  10. Reset Password and Disable SQL Server SA Account – With auditors wanting all user accounts to have passwords that change at least every 90 days, or the account must be disabled, this provides some guidance on how to make that work with the SA account.

Happy New Year! I hope you will continue to visit this site for helpful information on a variety of topics.

Free ebook: Data Science with Microsoft SQL Server 2016

Microsoft is really good at providing technical information about their products, and this free ebook is a great source of information on SQL Server 2016, analytics, Big Data, and R. The free ebook, Data Science with Microsoft SQL Server 2016, isn’t a deep-dive but it’s a free way to learning more about this complicated subject. Microsoft says:

The world around us, every business and nearly every industry, is being transformed by technology. This disruption is driven, in part, by the intersection of three trends: a massive explosion of data, intelligence from machine learning and advanced analytics, and the economics and agility of cloud computing.

While databases power nearly every aspect of business today, they were not originally designed with this disruption in mind. Traditional databases were about recording and retrieving transactions such as orders and payments very reliably, very securely and efficiently. They were designed to enable reliable, secure, mission-critical transactional applications at small to medium scale, in on-premises datacenters.

Databases built to get ahead of today’s disruptions do very fast analyses of live data in-memory as transactions are being recorded or queried. They support very low latency advanced analytics and machine learning, such as forecasting and predictive models, on the same data, so that applications can easily embed data-driven intelligence. They allow databases to be offered as a fully managed service in the cloud, in turn making it easy to build and deploy intelligent Software as a Service (SaaS) apps.

They also provide innovative security features built for a world where a majority of data is accessible over the Internet. They support 24×7 high-availability, efficient management and database administration across platforms. They therefore enable mission critical intelligent applications to be built and managed both in the cloud and on-premises. They are exciting harbingers of a new world of ambient intelligence.

SQL Server 2016 was built for this new world, and to help businesses get ahead of today’s disruptions. It supports hybrid transactional/analytical processing, advanced analytics and machine learning, mobile BI, data integration, always encrypted query processing capabilities and in-memory transactions with persistence. It integrates advanced analytics into the database, providing revolutionary capabilities to build intelligent, high performance transactional applications.  

Imagine a core enterprise application built with a database such as SQL Server. What if you could embed intelligence, i.e. advanced analytics algorithms plus data transformations, within the database itself, to make every transaction intelligent in real time? That’s now possible for the first time with R and machine learning built into SQL Server 2016.  By combining the performance of SQL Server in-memory OLTP technology as well as in-memory columnstores with R and machine learning, applications can get extraordinary analytical performance in production, as well as the throughput, parallelism, security, reliability, compliance certifications and manageability of an industrial strength database engine.

This book is the first to truly describe how you can create intelligence applications leveraging SQL Server and R.  It is an exciting book that will empower every developer to unleash the power of data driven intelligence in their organization.

Download it here: https://mva.microsoft.com/ebooks/. You will need a free Virtual Academy account to get access to this book, and well as several more free ebooks and free courses on various Microsoft products.

Free eBooks from Microsoft Blog

Interested in free ebooks from Microsoft? This post from Eric Ligman, Microsoft Director of Sales Excellence Blog, provides links to several free development books available in electronic format. The topics range from Visual Studio, Windows 10, Windows Phone, Office, and SQL Server. Take a look and see if you find something interesting.


Free eBooks from Microsoft Blog

Interested in free ebooks from Microsoft? This post from Eric Ligman, Microsoft Director of Sales Excellence Blog, provides links to several free development books available in electronic format. The topics range from Visual Studio, Windows 10, Windows Phone, Office, and SQL Server. Take a look and see if you find something interesting.


Free eBook: Migrating SQL Server Databases to Azure

This new eBook from Microsoft is free right now. While it does explain a little about Azure and SQL Server, it also includes one or more walk-throughs for creating a trial Azure subscription, an how-to on creating a SQL Server instance with an Azure virtual machine and Azure SQL Database instance. It also talks about migrating an on-premises SQL Server database instance to each available Azure solution.

The free eBook is available here.

Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2016 with Free eBook

Microsoft has published a free eBook to help introduce you to SQL Server 2016. Microsoft posted a blog entry on this new offering:

  • Chapter one: Faster queries – Get up to speed on how to perform real-time transactions and ultra-fast analytics using new features like in-memory transaction processing and in-memory updateable column stores.
  • Chapter two: Better security – Explore three new principal security features in SQL Server 2016—Always Encrypted, Row-Level Security and Dynamic Data Masking, and learn how to use each one of these features to its fullest potential.
  • Chapter three: Higher availability – Learn how to deploy more robust, highly available data management solutions using the new features in AlwaysOn Availability Group and AlwaysOn Failover Cluster.
  • Chapter four: Improved database engine – Find out how to optimize query performance, how to take advantage of hybrid cloud architectures, and how to stay in control amidst growing volumes of data.
  • Chapter five: Broader data access – Discover how SQL Server 2016 can help you manage, maintain, integrate and import data of all types, leading to richer business insights.
  • Chapter six: More analytics – Learn how to more quickly build secure, advanced analytics solutions, how to create predictive models with R functions, and how to generate better business outcomes by incorporating these models into application and reporting tools.
  • Chapter seven: Better reporting – Explore the new data visualization and layout options in Reporting Services, and how Mobile BI lets employees easily access business intelligence, whether in the office or on the road.
  • Chapter eight: Improved Azure SQL Database – Learn more about Microsoft Azure SQL Database and how features such as elastic database pools and rapid development cycles make it a natural complement to your on-premises DB solution.
  • Chapter nine: Expanding your options with Azure SQL Data Warehouse – Find out how to exponentially increase your data management and analytics capabilities, without the usual overhead.

Free eBook Download

Free ebook: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2016

There is a new SQL Server 2016 ebook available for free. The preview version of the book, Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2016, is available for download directly from Microsoft. The final version of the book should be available soon.

With Microsoft SQL Server 2016, a variety of new features and enhancements to the data platform deliver breakthrough performance, advanced security, and richer, integrated reporting and analytics capabilities. In this preview ebook, by Stacia Varga, Joseph D’Antoni, and Denny Cherry, we introduce you to several of these changes that you can experience for yourself in Community Technology Preview 3.2. We start by introducing three new security features that you can use to protect your data: Always Encrypted, Row-Level Security, and dynamic data masking. Then we describe significant database engine enhancements that enable you to better manage performance and storage: TempDB configuration, query store, and Stretch Database. Last, we review several improvements to Reporting Services, including new data visualizations, support for mobile reports and key performance indicators, and subscription enhancements, to name a few. In each of these areas, we review the key concepts you need to understand before using these features and describe the steps necessary to get started so you can quickly experience the benefits of SQL Server 2016 firsthand.

My 5 Technology New Year’s Resolutions for 2016

Keeping the new year in mind, have you created your technology New Year’s resolutions? This isn’t about losing weight or working out more often, it is instead about what technology changes you promise to make in 2016. First, let’s discuss the items from 2015:

  1. Learn C# – I said I was going to start using C# by learning and embracing C# as my primary programming language. I don’t do much programming, so this was difficult for me personally, but I did push other people under my influence to move from their existing language of choice to C#. I think I was able to move between 4-8 people to make C# their primary programming language.
  2. Embrace the Cloud – I promised to put together an intelligent and coherent strategy for using the cloud. In 2015 I assisted my company in moving from a 100% on-premise environment to one that uses AWS and Azure. While we are not 100% cloud, we have definitely moved to a company that is open to cloud solutions on a case-by-case basis.
  3. Windows 10 –  2015 was the year I promised to organize and plan the move to Windows 10 the corporate users at my company. I met mush more resistance to this idea than I thought possible. I was thinking the technical team would be happy to get users onto a new operating system, especially one as great as Windows 10. It turns out they would still be using Windows XP if I would allow that, and they have no desire to learn or support anything new or challenging.
  4. Consolidate Databases – I knew this effort would be difficult because the instances range from SQL Server 2000 to 2012, and the Windows versions range from Windows Server 2003 to 2008 R2. I was unable to build the type of team consensus that leads to the mindset that makes this project possible.
  5. Attend User Group Meetings – I promised to support my user groups more by attending more meetings. I had more difficulty in scheduling around business meeting than in previous years, and failed to make this goal possible.

I have a few changes I want to make, and I am resolving to make it happen in 2016:

  1. Embrace the Cloud – With cloud based technologies becoming more popular, I will continue to investigate the cloud as possible solution to all projects. In 2016 I promise to continue using a strategy for using the cloud as much as possible.
  2. Windows 10 – I currently am using Windows 10 on my Surface Pro 3. I still think Windows 10 is the best solution for Windows users, and I still don’t like Windows 8 or 8.1. This year I still plan on organizing an effort and promoting a plan to move my corporate users to Windows 10.
  3. Consolidate Databases – This year is the year to consolidate my SQL Server instances into two or three primary instances. This still has great benefits that include simpler administration and reduced licensing costs. This will still be difficult to complete, but I haven’t surrendered.
  4. Read Technical Books – I enjoy learning and appreciate a good technical book. I have browsed and skimmed several books in 2015, but I intend to completely read at least 4 technical books in 2016.
  5. Technology Leader – I plan on making a more complete move from technical expert to technical leader. This means doing less detailed technical work, and spending more time educating and leading my team (and this blog) on how to make good technology decisions.

What are your technology promises for 2016?

Free ebook: Managing Agile Open-Source Software Projects with Microsoft Visual Studio Online

Excellent news if you are looking for some new development content to add to your library. If you are looking for a good introduction on how to manage agile projects using the Visual Studio Online platform, there is now a free ebook from Microsoft Press.”Managing Agile Open-Source Software Projects with Microsoft Visual Studio Online” is available directly from Microsoft Press.

Chapter 1 – “Triage of ideas”
Chapter 2 – “Getting ready”
Chapter 3 – “Building the working solutions”
Chapter 4 – “Raising the quality bar”
Appendix 1 – “Supporting toolbox”
Appendix 2 – “Eating your own dogfood is key”

Book Review: Microsoft Visual C# 2013 Step by Step by John Sharp

Summary

This book covers what developers need to know about Microsoft’s development tool, C# in Visual Studio 2013. Grow your mastery and teach yourself the basics of Microsoft Visual C# 2013. Even if you have past programming experience or are new to programming, this book will help you learn the basics of the C# programming language.

Contents

  • Introduction
  • Introducing Microsoft Visual C# and Microsoft Visual Studio 2013
    • Chapter 1: Welcome to C#
    • Chapter 2: Working with variables, operators, and expressions
    • Chapter 3: Writing methods and applying scope
    • Chapter 4: Using decision statements
    • Chapter 5: Using compound assignment and iteration statements
    • Chapter 6: Managing errors and exceptions
  • Understanding the C# object model
    • Chapter 7: Creating and managing classes and objects
    • Chapter 8: Understanding values and references
    • Chapter 9: Creating value types with enumerations and structures
    • Chapter 10: Using arrays
    • Chapter 11: Understanding parameter arrays
    • Chapter 12: Working with inheritance
    • Chapter 13: Creating interfaces and defining abstract classes
    • Chapter 14: Using garbage collection and resource management
  • Defining extensible types with C#
    • Chapter 15: Implementing properties to access fields
    • Chapter 16: Using indexers
    • Chapter 17: Introducing generics
    • Chapter 18: Using collections
    • Chapter 19: Enumerating collections
    • Chapter 20: Decoupling application logic and handling events
    • Chapter 21: Querying in-memory data by using query expressions
    • Chapter 22: Operator overloading
  • Building professional Windows 8.1 applications with C#
    • Chapter 23: Improving throughput by using tasks
    • Chapter 24: Improving response time by performing asynchronous operations
    • Chapter 25: Implementing the user interface for a Windows Store app
    • Chapter 26: Displaying and searching for data in a Windows Store app
    • Chapter 27: Accessing a remote database from a Windows Store app
  • About the author

Conclusion

This book is a good place to start for users who want to get more information on the great features in C# found in Visual Studio 2013.

Note: I have no personal interest in the reviewed book. I have received no money or other payment for this review.

Book Review: Professional Team Foundation Server 2012 by Ed Blankenship, Grant Holliday, Martin Woodward, and Brian Keller

Summary

This book covers what developers need to know about Microsoft’s leading productivity tool, Team Foundation Server (TFS). Updated for the new features of TFS 2012, it provides developers, system administrators, and software project managers with step-by-step instructions for the installation and configuration, as well as helps those studying for the certification exam.

 

Contents

Part I – Getting Started

1 – Introducing Team Foundation Server 2012

2 – Planning a Deployment

3 – Installation and Configuration

4 – Connecting to Team Foundation Server

Part II – Version Control

5 – Overview of Version Control

6 – Using Team Foundation Version Control

7 – Ensuring Code Quality

8 – Migration from Legacy Version Control Systems

9 – Branching and Merging

10 – Common Version Control Scenarios

Part III – Project Management

11 – Introducing Work-Item Tracking

12 – Customizing Process Templates

13 – Managing Teams and Agile Planning Tools

14 – Reporting and SharePoint Dashboards

15 – Integration with Project Server

Part IV – Team Foundation Build

16 – Overview of Build Automation

17 – Using Team Foundation Build

18 – Customizing the Build Process

Part V – Administration

19 – Introduction to Team Foundation Server Administration

20 – Scalability and High Availability

21 – Disaster Recovery

22 – Security and Privileges

23 – Monitoring Server Health and Performance

24 – Testing and Lab Management

25 – Upgrading Team Foundation Server

26 – Working with Geographically Distributed Teams

27 – Extending Team Foundation Server

Conclusion

This book is a good place to start for users who want to get more information on new and existing features in Team Foundation Services. It is also excellent for anyone wanting more information on installation and configuration of the product.

Note: I have no personal interest in the reviewed book. I paid for my own copy and have received no money or other payment for this review.

SQL Server Training

Stay current on Microsoft SQL Server through a variety of resources, technical trainings, and Microsoft certifications. In any economy, it’s vital to make yourself more marketable by developing your skills. Add real value to your professional development at any stage of your career with Microsoft SQL Server training and certifications. Inspire customer and employer confidence by earning industry-recognized Microsoft certifications. Strengthen technical skills and knowledge, and distinguish yourself among peers.

The impact of certification in the workplace

  • 66% of managers believe that certifications improve the service and support given to IT customers
  • 75% of managers believe that certifications are important to team performance
  • 40% of workers report that Microsoft certifications helped them find a job or led to a promotion

Earn your MCSE on the Microsoft data platform to help train and qualify to become a database analyst or a database engineer. Schedule your first course today.

  • Course 20461C: Querying Microsoft SQL Server
  • Course 20462C: Administering Microsoft SQL Server Databases
  • Course 20463C: Implementing a Data Warehouse with Microsoft SQL Server
  • Course 20464C: Developing Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Databases
  • Course 20465C: Designing a Data Solution with Microsoft SQL Server 2014
  • Course 20466C: Implementing Data Models and Reports with Microsoft SQL Server
  • Course 20467C: Designing Self-Service Business Intelligence and Big Data Solutions

 

 

Book Review: Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012 by Dejan Sarka, Itzik Ben-Gan and Ron Talmage

Summary

Your 2-in-1 Training Kit for Exam 70-461 as presented by the great book from Microsoft. Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2012 will help you ace your Microsoft Certification Exam 70-461. You will be working at your own pace through a series of lessons and practical exercises, and then you can assess your skills with the included practice tests.

Maximize your performance on the exam by learning how to:

  • Create database objects
  • Work with data
  • Modify data
  • Troubleshoot and optimize queries

You also get an exam discount voucher—making this book an exceptional value and a great career investment. 

 

Conclusion

This book is a good place to start for users of Transact-SQL who want to get more information on new and existing features. It is also excellent for beginners who are looking to learn more about basic SQL Server queries.

Note: I have no personal interest in the reviewed book. I paid for my own copy and have received no money or other payment for this review.

Weekly Update – Summary From Last Week

 

List of my WordPress posts from the last week:

News from last week as posted to my social media sites:

While I understand this is not a complete and full list, it is just those items that summarize the posts and tweets from last week. You can track more of my feeds by visiting the links to my social media sites listed to the right, under my picture.

Weekly Update – Summary From Last Week

 

List of my WordPress posts from the last week:

News from last week as posted to my social media sites:

Why I understand this is not a complete and full list, it is just those items that summarize the posts and tweets from last week my social media sites. You can track more of my feeds by visiting the links to my social media sites listed to the right, under my picture.

Free eBooks from Microsoft

Interested in free ebooks from Microsoft? This post from Eric Ligman, Program Manager at Microsoft, provides links to several development books available in electronic format. The topics range from Visual Studio, Windows 7, Windows Phone, Office, and SQL Server. He also has a followup post with additional free items.


Free ebook: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2014

Want a free ebook that gives you an introduction to the new SQL Server 2014 database tool that was released this month?

This book is for anyone who has an interest in SQL Server 2014 and wants to understand its capabilities. Many new improvements have been made to SQL Server 2014, but in a book of this size we cannot cover every improvement in its entirety—or cover every feature that distinguishes SQL Server from other databases or SQL Server 2014 from previous versions. Consequently, we assume that you have some familiarity with SQL Server already. You might be a database administrator (DBA), an application developer, a business intelligence solution architect, a power user, or a technical decision maker. Regardless of your role, we hope that you can use this book to discover the features in SQL Server 2014 that are most beneficial to you

You can download the ebook in various formats at this link.

Book Review: SQL Server 2012 Data Integration Recipes by Adam Aspin

Summary

Who Should Read This Book?

SQL Server 2012 Data Integration Recipes: Solutions for Integration Services and Other ETL Tools by Adam Aspin is an Apress book written for developers (and database administrators) wishing to find quick and dependable solutions for writing ETL processes to support importing and exporting data using SQL Server 2012. Developers moving to SQL Server from other database platforms will find the included clear examples the best solution for quickly converting their existing ETL knowledge to the required SQL Server specific environment.

What Will You Learn From This Book?

  • How to import and export XML, CSV and other text-based files
  • Moving data between SQL database instances, including SQL Server and others such as Oracle Database and MySQL
  • Remove duplicates and consolidate from multiple sources
  • Transform data to meet the needs of target systems
  • Profile source data as part of the discovery process
  • Log and manage errors and exceptions during an ETL process
  • Improve efficiency by detecting and processing only changed data

Conclusion

This book brings 10 years of extensive ETL experience from Adam Aspin involving SQL Server, and provides all that information and experience into an easy to read 1000 pages. Adam provides extensive coverage is  Integration Services,  which is the SQL Server tool for data integration in SQL Server environments. You’ll also find information on OPENDATASOURCE, linked servers, OPENROWSET, Migration Assistant for Access, BCP Import, and BULK INSERT and other toolsets. I could it a very useful source of information on data integration and ETL tools, and the SQL Server 2012 specific information was very helpful.

Table of Contents

  1. MS Office Data Sources
  2. Flat File Sources
  3. XML Data Sources
  4. SQL Database Sources
  5. SQL Server Sources
  6. Miscellaneous Data Sources
  7. Exporting Data from SQL Server
  8. Metadata
  9. Data Transformation
  10. Data Profiling
  11. Delta Data Management
  12. Change Tracking and Change Data Capture
  13. Optimising Data Import
  14. ET Process Acceleration
  15. Logging and Auditing
  16. Appendix A: Data Types
  17. Appendix B: Sample Databases and Scripts

Who Should Read This Book?

This book is written for three groups of people:

  • Students, computer hobbyists interested in software testing, or someone looking for a full-time job in development. Reading this book before an interview or before your first day on the job to brush up on your testing knowledge.
  • Career changers wanting to move from their field of expertise into the software industry. There are lots of opportunities for non-software experts to apply their knowledge to software testing.
  • Programmers, software project managers, and other people who make up a software development team who want to improve their knowledge and understanding of what software testing is all about.

What Will You Learn From This Book?

This book covers nearly every aspect of software testing:

  • Software testing as part of the software development process
  • Basic and advanced software testing techniques
  • Applying testing skills to common development tasks
  • Using automation to improve test efficiency
  • Planning, documenting, and reporting your testing effort and results
  • Measuring your test effort and your product’s progress
  • Knowing the difference between testing and quality assurance
  • How to find a job as a software tester

Conclusion

This book is a good place to start for programmers who want to get into testing or Quality Assurance. It is also excellent for beginners who are looking to learn more about software testing.

Note: I have no personal interest in the reviewed book. I paid for my own copy and have received no money or other payment for this review.

Book Review: Software Testing (2nd Edition) by Ron Patton

Summary

I read this book that I got a few months ago, and thought you might like to know a little about the contents and what I thought about the book. Software Testing (2nd Edition) by Ron Patton (ISBN-13: 978-0672327988) is a Sams book that covers basic software development testing techniques. Written with an easy to understand style that is clear and concise style, Patton covers the basics of software testing. He summarizes the essential elements into six sections while keeping the overall length to about 400 pages. I found the topics were covered in a introductory manner, with broad overviews and just the important elements for the novice to beginner. In general, this is targeted at people new to testing software or for someone just beginning to apply their existing development skills to a formal software testing environment.

After reading this book (and others on the subject), your main takeaways should include:

  1. Find bugs early. The sooner bugs are discovered the less expensive to fix.
  2. It is impossible to test every program completely, but if test smartly you can perform more complete testing.
  3. Smart people automate testing when possible, which allows for quickly repeating tests and duplicating errors.

Who Should Read This Book?

This book is written for three groups of people:

  • Students, computer hobbyists interested in software testing, or someone looking for a full-time job in development. Reading this book before an interview or before your first day on the job to brush up on your testing knowledge.
  • Career changers wanting to move from their field of expertise into the software industry. There are lots of opportunities for non-software experts to apply their knowledge to software testing.
  • Programmers, software project managers, and other people who make up a software development team who want to improve their knowledge and understanding of what software testing is all about.

What Will You Learn From This Book?

This book covers nearly every aspect of software testing:

  • Software testing as part of the software development process
  • Basic and advanced software testing techniques
  • Applying testing skills to common development tasks
  • Using automation to improve test efficiency
  • Planning, documenting, and reporting your testing effort and results
  • Measuring your test effort and your product’s progress
  • Knowing the difference between testing and quality assurance
  • How to find a job as a software tester

Conclusion

This book is a good place to start for programmers who want to get into testing or Quality Assurance. It is also excellent for beginners who are looking to learn more about software testing.

Table of Contents

Introduction.

About the Second Edition

Who Should Use This Book?

What This Book Will Do for You

Software Necessary to Use This Book

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: The Big Picture

Part II: Testing Fundamentals

Part III: Applying Your Testing Skills

Part IV: Supplementing Your Testing

Part V: Working with Test Documentation

Part VI: The Future

Appendix

Conventions Used in This Book

I. THE BIG PICTURE.

1. Software Testing Background.

Infamous Software Error Case Studies

Disney’s Lion King, 1994-1995

Intel Pentium Floating-Point Division Bug, 1994

NASA Mars Polar Lander, 1999

Patriot Missile Defense System, 1991

The Y2K (Year 2000) Bug, circa 1974

Dangerous Viewing Ahead, 2004

What Is a Bug?

Terms for Software Failures

Software Bug: A Formal Definition

Why Do Bugs Occur?

The Cost of Bugs

What Exactly Does a Software Tester Do?

What Makes a Good Software Tester?

Summary

Quiz

2. The Software Development Process.

Product Components

What Effort Goes Into a Software Product?

What Parts Make Up a Software Product?

Software Project Staff

Software Development Lifecycle Models

Big-Bang Model

Code-and-Fix Model

Waterfall Model

Spiral Model

Summary

Quiz

3. The Realities of Software Testing.

Testing Axioms

It’s Impossible to Test a Program Completely

Software Testing Is a Risk-Based Exercise

Testing Can’t Show That Bugs Don’t Exist

The More Bugs You Find, the More Bugs There Are

The Pesticide Paradox

Not All the Bugs You Find Will Be Fixed

When a Bug’s a Bug Is Difficult to Say

Product Specifications Are Never Final

Software Testers Aren’t the Most Popular Members of a Project Team

Software Testing Is a Disciplined Technical Profession

Software Testing Terms and Definitions

Precision and Accuracy

Verification and Validation

Quality and Reliability

Testing and Quality Assurance (QA)

Summary

Quiz

II. TESTING FUNDAMENTALS.

4. Examining the Specification.

Getting Started

Black-Box and White-Box Testing

Static and Dynamic Testing

Static Black-Box Testing: Testing the Specification

Performing a High-Level Review of the Specification

Pretend to Be the Customer

Research Existing Standards and Guidelines

Review and Test Similar Software

Low-Level Specification Test Techniques

Specification Attributes Checklist

Specification Terminology Checklist

Summary

Quiz

5. Testing the Software with Blinders On.

Dynamic Black-Box Testing: Testing the Software While Blindfolded

Test-to-Pass and Test-to-Fail

Equivalence Partitioning

Data Testing

Boundary Conditions

Sub-Boundary Conditions

Default, Empty, Blank, Null, Zero, and None

Invalid, Wrong, Incorrect, and Garbage Data

State Testing

Testing the Software’s Logic Flow

Testing States to Fail

Other Black-Box Test Techniques

Behave Like a Dumb User

Look for Bugs Where You’ve Already Found Them

Think like a Hacker

Follow Experience, Intuition, and Hunches

Summary

Quiz

6. Examining the Code.

Static White-Box Testing: Examining the Design and Code

Formal Reviews

Peer Reviews

Walkthroughs

Inspections

Coding Standards and Guidelines

Examples of Programming Standards and Guidelines

Obtaining Standards

Generic Code Review Checklist

Data Reference Errors

Data Declaration Errors

Computation Errors

Comparison Errors

Control Flow Errors

Subroutine Parameter Errors

Input/Output Errors

Other Checks

Summary

Quiz

7. Testing the Software with X-Ray Glasses.

Dynamic White-Box Testing

Dynamic White-Box Testing Versus Debugging

Testing the Pieces

Unit and Integration Testing

An Example of Module Testing

Data Coverage

Data Flow

Sub-Boundaries

Formulas and Equations

Error Forcing

Code Coverage

Program Statement and Line Coverage

Branch Coverage

Condition Coverage

Summary

Quiz

III. APPLYING YOUR TESTING SKILLS.

8. Configuration Testing.

An Overview of Configuration Testing

Isolating Configuration Bugs

Sizing Up the Job

Approaching the Task

Decide the Types of Hardware You’ll Need

Decide What Hardware Brands, Models, and Device Drivers Are Available

Decide Which Hardware Features, Modes, and Options Are Possible

Pare Down the Identified Hardware Configurations to a Manageable Set

Identify Your Software’s Unique Features That Work with the Hardware Configurations

Design the Test Cases to Run on Each Configuration    136

Execute the Tests on Each Configuration

Rerun the Tests Until the Results Satisfy Your Team

Obtaining the Hardware

Identifying Hardware Standards

Configuration Testing Other Hardware

Summary

Quiz

9. Compatibility Testing.

Compatibility Testing Overview

Platform and Application Versions

Backward and Forward Compatibility

The Impact of Testing Multiple Versions

Standards and Guidelines

High-Level Standards and Guidelines

Low-Level Standards and Guidelines

Data Sharing Compatibility

Summary

Quiz

10. Foreign-Language Testing.

Making the Words and Pictures Make Sense

Translation Issues

Text Expansion

ASCII, DBCS, and Unicode

Hot Keys and Shortcuts

Extended Characters

Computations on Characters

Reading Left to Right and Right to Left

Text in Graphics

Keep the Text out of the Code

Localization Issues

Content

Data Formats

Configuration and Compatibility Issues

Foreign Platform Configurations

Data Compatibility

How Much Should You Test?

Summary

Quiz

11. Usability Testing.

User Interface Testing

What Makes a Good UI?

Follows Standards and Guidelines

Intuitive

Consistent

Flexible

Comfortable

Correct

Useful

Testing for the Disabled: Accessibility Testing

Legal Requirements

Accessibility Features in Software

Summary

Quiz

12. Testing the Documentation.

Types of Software Documentation

The Importance of Documentation Testing

What to Look for When Reviewing Documentation

The Realities of Documentation Testing

Summary

Quiz

13. Testing for Software Security.

WarGames-the Movie

Understanding the Motivation

Threat Modeling

Is Software Security a Feature? Is Security Vulnerability a Bug?

Understanding the Buffer Overrun

Using Safe String Functions

Computer Forensics

Summary

Quiz

14. Website Testing.

Web Page Fundamentals

Black-Box Testin

Text

Hyperlinks

Graphics

Forms

Objects and Other Simple Miscellaneous Functionality

Gray-Box Testing

White-Box Testing

Configuration and Compatibility Testing

Usability Testing

Introducing Automation

Summary

Quiz

IV. SUPPLEMENTING YOUR TESTING.

15. Automated Testing and Test Tools.

The Benefits of Automation and Tools

Test Tools

Viewers and Monitors

Drivers

Stubs

Stress and Load Tools

Interference Injectors and Noise Generators

Analysis Tools

Software Test Automation

Macro Recording and Playback

Programmed Macros

Fully Programmable Automated Testing Tools

Random Testing: Monkeys and Gorillas

Dumb Monkeys

Semi-Smart Monkeys

Smart Monkeys

Realities of Using Test Tools and Automation

Summary

Quiz

16. Bug Bashes and Beta Testing.

Having Other People Test Your Software

Test Sharing

Beta Testing

Outsourcing Your Testing

Summary

Quiz

V. WORKING WITH TEST DOCUMENTATION.

17. Planning Your Test Effort.

The Goal of Test Planning

Test Planning Topics

High-Level Expectations

People, Places, and Things

Definitions

Inter-Group Responsibilities

What Will and Won’t Be Tested

Test Phases

Test Strategy

Resource Requirements

Tester Assignments

Test Schedule

Test Cases

Bug Reporting

Metrics and Statistics

Risks and Issues

Summary

Quiz

18. Writing and Tracking Test Cases.

The Goals of Test Case Planning

Test Case Planning Overview

Test Design

Test Cases

Test Procedures

Test Case Organization and Tracking

Summary

Quiz

19. Reporting What You Find.

Getting Your Bugs Fixed

Isolating and Reproducing Bugs

Not All Bugs Are Created Equal

A Bug’s Life Cycle

Bug-Tracking Systems

The Standard: The Test Incident Report

Manual Bug Reporting and Tracking

Automated Bug Reporting and Tracking

Summary

Quiz

20. Measuring Your Success.

Using the Information in the Bug Tracking Database

Metrics That You’ll Use in Your Daily Testing

Common Project-Level Metrics

Summary

Quiz

VI. THE FUTURE.

21. Software Quality Assurance.

Quality Is Free

Testing and Quality Assurance in the Workplace

Software Testing

Quality Assurance

Other Names for Software Testing Groups

Test Management and Organizational Structures

Capability Maturity Model (CMM)

ISO 9000

Summary

Quiz

22. Your Career as a Software Tester.

Your Job as a Software Tester

Finding a Software Testing Position

Gaining Hands-On Experience

Formal Training Opportunities

Websites

Professional Organizations Dedicated to Software or Software Quality

Further Reading

Summary

Quiz

APPENDIX.

Note: I have no personal interest in the reviewed book. I paid for my own copy and have received no money or other payment for this review.

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