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Comment Black Box testing is fun! (Score 1) 228

Right, black box testing and exploration testing are the most interesting, it can be like a game. Detective work where good analysis and diagnostics skills are required.

When you find a failure, you have to investigate further to pin point the defect, to have something tangible and accurate to report to the developers (so that they have no other choice than to believe you ;-).

You're not the guy who made the code, but as a developer yourself, you know how it works, and you know where developers sometimes neglet to shield their code or what is likely to fail. You don't see what's inside that "box", but you guess. You have a totally different point of view than the coders who made it, so you see things they don't see.

It can even happen that you end up explaining them how what they wrote works, that you gain a better understanding of what their software does in reality! Think networking for example: with modern high level OO languages, networking is completely burried into many software layers. Opening a remote connection at high level is easy-peasy nowadays, but many programmers (especially youngest ones) don't know (or are not interested to know) what's going on down there on the cable. Your tool will be Wireshark and with it you'll see the live connection, you'll see in details how it works or fails, not how the developer expected it would work.

Software testing can be much more than pressing buttons and ticking PASS/FAIL checkboxes. It's a domain where you can have plenty of freedom and can use all your imagination and skills. Some tasks such as preparing test cases or writing reports can be boring but it's not worse that documenting code for a developer. Some coders will see you as a fellow who helps them while some others with a large ego might not like you very much, especially when they cause many defects and see your name too often! But being a good tester is rewarding. If you can share this job with some programming, you'll be a happy guy.

A book I recommend is "Lessons Learned in Software Testing": http://tinyurl.com/86f9q48

Comment Re:search (Score 1) 114

Similar situation here, with tons of documents (Word, Excel, PDF, etc) scattered everywhere, along with project specific personal web pages on users stations, etc...
I've set up a portal for our intranet and a project management system, but so far the most useful tool is an indexer (Xapian) and a search page (à la Google, available on the portal) since it allows easy recovery of "archived" (read "lost") older documents...

The most difficult task is to convince some colleagues reluctant to changes that it's better to "publish" their documentation (using online tools) rather than to "archive" MS Word files, deep into some directory trees, in locations only known by them... Management support is required...

Comment I don't think you do (Score 1) 93

...
There is a close and natural relation between Breitling and aviation since nearly one century. They make chronographs and watches that are more aeronautical flight intruments than watches, and which have been widely adopted in aviation not for bling-bling reasons but for their specialization and their high-perf.

There is no marketing need to "try to associate" some James Bond image to watches that are used by astronauts in space (since NASA's Mercury program)...

Breitling is sponsoring many aviation projects (e.g. , aerobatic squads, warbird restoration, Orbiter solar aircraft, etc). It owes much to aviation but repays it well in return.

It's not like if it was Cartier (or Budweiser) that was sponsoring Rossy.

PS: I don't wear any watch

Comment Re:Perl Is way better (Score 1) 538

"I shudder anytime anytime I get asked to look at someone elses Perl code. That has NEVER been a good experience."

Again, this depends on the programmer who wrote the code, not the language.
It surely can happen that Perl has nothing to forgive..

Anyway Perl was ment as a "Practical Extraction and Report Language". Imho, in this domain it remains the best!

Comment Re:Fairly Dangerous (Score 3, Interesting) 183

I couldn't agree more!
The more this stuff would learn about you, the less you 'd have chances to learn new stuff that could interest you, to open your mind to other opinions and other ideas. It's kind of positive closed-loop that'll lock your mind and prevent you to evolve (well, fortunately the rest of the world will continue to interact with you by other means).

I'd never permit a real person, even my mother who knows me well, to select what I should be interested in, so an archaic AI program, a bonehead maker? never!...

Evolution needs stimulation, not confortation.

Cellphones

Duke Nukem 3D Ported To Nokia N900 95

andylim writes "It looks as if Duke Nukem isn't completely 'nuked' after all. Someone has ported the 90s classic on to a Nokia N900. As you'll see in the video, you control Duke using the Qwerty keypad and shoot using the touchscreen. I'm wondering how long it will take for this to get on other mobile platforms." In other Duke news, reader Jupix points out that 3D Realms' CEO Scott Miller recently said, "There are numerous other Duke games in various stages of development, several due out this year. We are definitely looking to bring Duke into casual gaming spaces, plus there are other major Duke games in production."

Comment more compatible with more sites... (Score 1) 524

"Internet Explorer 8 is more compatible with more sites on the Internet than any other browser. "

Should be true if we considere the many sites that got their code screwed up with non-standard stuff to be compatible with older IE versions. It's the internet that unfortunately had to be made compatible with IE, not the opposite.

IE8 is compatible with standard web as well as with now deprecated IE6 non-standard crap. No glory...

Announcements

Submission + - SDF Public Access UNIX System Celebrates 20 Years (lonestar.org)

Stephen Jones writes: "The SDF Public Access UNIX System Celebrates 20 Years!
http://sdf.lonestar.org/

It was on June 16th, 1987 that the SDF-1 received its first caller at
300bps. This little Apple ][e BBS of the late 80s turned into a Public
Access UNIX System with the demise of "killer.dallas.tx.us" during the
"Operation Sundevil" raids. Since then it has grown to become the oldest
and largest continually operating PUBNIX on the planet."

Unix

Submission + - SDF Public Access Unix System Turns 20 (lonestar.org)

Eileen writes: Remember those days when you could get a free Unix shell account and learn all about the command line? You still can at the Super Dimension Fortress (SDF). SDF is celebrating its 20th birthday on June 16.

Full press release text:
The SDF Public Access UNIX System Celebrates 20 Years!
http://sdf.lonestar.org


It was on June 16th, 1987 that the SDF-1 received its first caller at 300bps. This little Apple ][e BBS of the late 80s turned into a Public Access UNIX System with the demise of "killer.dallas.tx.us" during the "Operation Sundevil" raids. Since then it has grown to become the oldest and largest continually operating PUBNIX on the planet.

Over the years SDF has been a home to 2+ million people from all over the world and has been supported by donations and membership dues. SDFers pride themselves on the fact that theirs is one of the last bastions of "the real INTERNET", out of the reach and scope of the commercialism and advertising of the DOT COM entities. It is a proponent of SMTP greylisting as opposed to content filtering and offers that as an option to its members.

While access to basic services are free to everyone, lifetime membership can be obtained for a mere onetime donation of $36. And it is the members who decide which programs and features are available. The members communicate via a web free, google inaccessible, text bulletin board ('bboard') as well as an interactive chat ('com') where users battle each other in the integrated netris matches. The interface of these programs harks back to the days when TOPS-20 CMD J-SYS ruled the ARPANET.

SDF has also become home to well known hackers such as Bill Gosper, Tom Ellard (Severed Heads), Geoff Goodfellow, Carolyn Meinel and Ezra Buchla, son of the father of the Synthesizer. From this pool of talent you might expect more than just computing, and you'd be correct. An annual music compilation is published featuring original music ranging from electronic noise to improvised piano sonatinas. Gosper's puzzles which he has cut at his favorite laser shop are frequently given away as membership perks or through fundraising raffles.

There are always classes being taught on SDF as well, where instructors and students enjoy free access to the latest teaching and programming tools. Instructors manage their own classes in such a way as not to be encumbered by their own school's outdated utilities or computer security restrictions, which can hamper the learning process.

And where else would you expect to be able to locally dialup at 1200bps from just about anywhere in the USA and Canada with a Commodore 64 and get a login prompt? SDF! As well as direct login, SDF offers PPP and PPPoE via analogue dialup (1200bps — 56kbps), ISDN and DSL. Members also have access to the SDF VPN (Virtual Private Network) and Dynamic Domain Name Service.

One of the many interesting and esoteric aspects of life on the SDF-1 is GOPHER. All users have access to their own GOPHER space and a number of them continue to find it a useful way to share text and data. And if you don't want to relive that past, SDF's 'motd.org' project offers a collaboration amongst members to share source and security tweaks for the latest wikis, web forums, photo galleries and blogs.

SDF runs NetBSD on a cluster of 12 DEC alphas with 3 BGP'ed T1s linking it to the INTERNET. It is an annual supporter of the NetBSD foundation and the Computer History Museum (CA). One of its original incarnations, an AT&T 3B2/500, is displayed annually at the Vintage Computer Festival.

Unix

Submission + - SDF Public Access UNIX turns 20!

An anonymous reader writes: It was on June 16th, 1987 that the SDF-1 received its first caller at 300bps. This little Apple ][e BBS of the late 80s turned into a Public Access UNIX System with the demise of "killer.dallas.tx.us" during the "Operation Sundevil" raids. Since then it has grown to become the oldest and largest continually operating PUBNIX on the planet.

Over the years SDF has been a home to 2+ million people from all over the world and has been supported by donations and membership dues. SDFers pride themselves on the fact that theirs is one of the last bastions of "the real INTERNET", out of the reach and scope of the commercialism and advertising of the DOT COM entities.

for more....http://sdf.lonestar.org/news/
Networking

Submission + - Happy 20th SDF (freeshell.org)

m0smithslash writes: "Where were you in 1987? 1987 was the year that Oscar Arias Sanchez won the Nobel peace prize, Supernova 1987A is observed (the first "naked-eye" supernova since 1604), the Unabomber, N.Y. Giants defeat the Denver Broncos, 39- 20, in Super Bowl XXI, and the The Legend of Zelda released for the NES in North America. June 16th, 1987 marked the day that the SDF-1 received its first caller at 300bps. From the press release:

This little Apple ][e BBS of the late 80s turned into a Public Access UNIX System with the demise of "killer.dallas.tx.us" during the "Operation Sundevil" raids. Since then it has grown to become the oldest and largest continually operating PUBNIX on the planet.
For crying out loud, all users have access to their own GOPHER space as well as more modern technologies like blogs, wikis and so forth. What more could you want?"

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