BUG-FREE SOFTWARE? GO FOR IT!James Thomas@qahiccupps, qahiccupps.blogspot.co.uk

CEWT #2. 28th Feb 2016

Cold fusion is tainted, and the taint is contagious … So the subject is stuck in a

place that is largely inaccessible to reason – a reputation trap, we might call it.

• Reputation• Preconception• Peer pressure

There is always enough room to interpret data in more than one way …We need to know motivations as much as we need to know results if we are to understand science.

#NoTesting

So, do we have to test, despite the customer being unkeen to pay for it? Despite it adding little or no value from the customer’s point of view?

Funny how so few testers question the basic premise of their trade

I’ve been observing some new silly ideas about testing – on how to do as less of it as possible or not

do it at all … reading those isn’t worth the time.

A team led by Princeton computer scientist Andrew Appel aims to exterminate software "bugs"

You can’t get rid of bugs … and it’s stupid to even think you might be able to!

The Analytical School way is to limit themselves to laboratory contexts where the numbers apply …I have a fondness for the Analytical School, but … I must solve the problems that come to me, rather than the ones I choose.

"One of the things that concerns Cem is the polarization of the craft … I suppose he wants more listening to people who have different views about whether there are best practices or not. To me, that’s unwise."

I think it’s a Bad Idea to alienate, ignore, or marginalize people who do hard work on interesting problems.

I’ve learned a lot from people who would never associate themselves with context-driven testing.

So When Can Testing Go Wrong?

• When we look inwards too much

• When we don’t apply critical thinking

• When we don’t consider human factors

• When we create reputation traps

What’s the common theme?

HUMANS

Selected Credits• Cold Fusion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_fusion#Subsequent_research• Huw Price:

https://aeon.co/essays/why-do-scientists-dismiss-the-possibility-of-cold-fusion?utm_source=digg&• Harry Collins: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Are-All-Scientific-Experts-Now/dp/0745682049• #NoTesting: https://flowchainsensei.wordpress.com/2014/11/07/no-testing/, http://

automation-beyond.com/2014/11/27/why-cant-they-just-get-it-right• Princeton: https://

www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S45/07/21I60/index.xml?section=topstories• Bach: http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/724, http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/134• Kaner: http://context-driven-testing.com/?p=103, http://context-driven-testing.com/?p=23

• Images:• http://img.ksl.com/slc/2500/250064/25006462.jpg?filter=ksl/pgallery• http://politybooks.com/book.asp?ref=9780745682037 • http://www.ib.bioninja.com.au/_Media/lincoln_index_med.jpeg• http://www.wordtracker.com/attachments/disavow-sign.jpg• https://twitter.com/jamesmarcusbach• https://twitter.com/drcemkaner• https://twitter.com/flowchainsensei • http://webthumb.bluga.net/pickup?id=wt56cd4bb551330&reload=true • http://runonpurpose.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Crowd1.jpg