It’s that time of the month where we take a look at a few of the interesting news stories September brought to the overall software development and QA world. If you are interested in checking out last month’s stories — including news about the growing outsourced testing market — simply click on this link. Hopefully, this month’s news digest provides some insight into your own programming and testing activities.
The growth of Cloud-based testing services has been previously noted in this blog. Microsoft continues to emphasize the Cloud as part of its business line; most notably in their Azure commercial Platform as a Service product. The company also is making available a Cloud-based automated bug detector, known as Project Springfield.
Springfield is a Cloud-based “fuzz” testing system aimed at finding critical security bugs in applications. Redmond used the product internally for testing Windows, Office, and other Microsoft applications. A key component of the tool — known as SAGE — found nearly one-third of the critical security holes in Windows 7 before that operating system hit the market.
Project Springfield leverages AI routines to perform a host of “what if” tests on issues possibly causing an application to crash or to be hacked. The tool runs multiple times trying to hone it on what it feels are the most critical problems with an app.
Springfield runs on top of an Azure instance, offering the convenience of a Cloud-based application. In addition to SAGE, Microsoft includes a host of fuzz testing tools along with a dashboard and user interface making Springfield easy to use for those who aren’t security experts. It sounds like a tool worth exploring for many development shops.
Testing localization routines remains important for videogame developers offering their products on a worldwide scale. Last week, Atlus released a game for the Nintendo 3DS called Shin Megai Tensei IV: Apocalypse which contained text untranslated from the original Japanese language. According to the company, the QA testers were so good at the game; they didn’t encounter the situation where the Japanese text appeared on screen.
This speaks to the need to employ the right testing procedures to ensure full code coverage. Atlus doesn’t expect to fix the issue in the current, cartridge-based game, but the company is redoubling its efforts on localization testing for future releases.
This week, CIO Insight published a slideshow and article detailing how CIOs can influence the critical testing and QA functions at their organization. The slideshow content is based on a survey of CIOs made by HP and Capgemini/Sogeti.
Security concerns are the lead reason driving QA initiatives, followed closely by simply releasing higher quality software. CIOs of companies following Agile principles noted the need to involve QA engineers earlier in the SDLC — a point discussed earlier this year on this very blog. The study also reported more companies are performing load and performance testing on third-party Cloud-based services used in their applications.
The rest of the slideshow offered additional insights on the changing role of QA in the modern business world, especially considering the growth of IoT applications. The need for improved processes for testing mobile and multi-channel application was also expressed.
Keep coming back to the Betica Blog for additional insights and news about software development and quality assurance.
Posted on September 30, 2016 September 30, 2016 | Categories News, Quality Assurance | Tags Game Development, Localization, Microsoft, Nintendo, Software Development, Software Testing, Testing as a Service, Video Games