GOOD LIST! I would add that there are other aspects as well-

There's a "horizontal" distinction in testing, by colour: Black Box, grey box, and white box.

Black box is what the post above is doing - everything "under the hood" is not to be looked at, only the results. This is the easiest form of testing. It can be automated using scripts, if the UI's field order is stable. I like Black Box - you just get to "fuck shit up". My fave was to copy and paste the Unabomber manifesto into everything and watch the fireworks. Also, in the early stages, Black Box can have a lot of say in the design, because if the UI is crap, the black box tester will notice immediately - workflow is retarded, or there are too many clicks to a result, or similar issues. Also, Black box usualy entails running the daily build server, and doing a daily test of the build to see if it meets minimum criteria. If it doesn,t then the programmers are informed to not use that build and stick with the old one until it passes muster.

Grey Box is in between - you're looking at the code when you can, and you're developing test scenarios for scripting engines of other systems. For example: you need to test load balancing - so you need to know where in the code stuff goes in and out and how the server takes the data, processes it, and sends it out - that takes a bit of programming - the programmer can write that for you - and then it's your job to suss out what the results mean. Also, when something breaks, you need to find where in the code it's broken. How to fix it is not your job or problem - but you need to be able to say "this is where it divides by zero and causes the computer to puke blood".

White Box is where you're managing low level testing of each software component (after the programmer runs it to see if it works at all) and if it doesn't work, you need to be able to flag it properly and send it back saying "it broke here because" kind of stuff. I find white box even more stressful and difficult than actual programming. You have to be a "programmer's programmer". Pain inth e ass, and rarely worth the money or hassle.

I like doing black box testing. It's a blast. I love to just fuck shit up. It's a trip. It's a bit like doing detective work. Grey Box is more intense, but can also be fun, dpending on the app you're testing and the team you're with. IF they hired by the "No Asshole Rule" then grey box can be rewarding - it pays better than black box and it often includes a lot of black box.

That's how it was when I left software dev in 2005. From what I gather it hasn't changed that much - it's more automated than before, but only after the app is mature enough to withstand it.

it can (and likely will / should) be replaced with the simulator.

Easy peasey companero. Do like so:

Load up every movie you've got on a drive. Tell a friend to buy one of them new fangled terabyte drives - that's what? $69 at Best Buy? Then connect your drive to his computer and drive. Click and drag contents from your drive to his and vice versa. Crack a bottle or two of wine, hang out, have a great afternoon and soon, you have more movies and shows than you could plausibly watch in years.

It was called Sneakernet back in the day. There's rumblings about a new kind of "Alexandrian" (i.e. universal) Library - only this time it's totally decentralised and offline and untraceable. How that can pan out, god only knows, but it's the logical conclusion to the graspings of the **AA, the pathetically corrupt governments, and the increasingly policed and threatened internet.

It used to be "never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon full of floppy disks." Now it's "never underestimate the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with hard drives..."

but in the future, you'll be able to hit a button and have your smartphone direct you to the nearest parking spot."

Just in time to see someone who ISN'T in the system scoop the space from you.

Ummm, the UUSR hasn't been in business for like, um, 20 years? You need to get out more.

Excellent. Thanks you. You deserve a massive mod up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fwwT5jp-dA

You missed this part:

There's nothing wrong with being trapped on earth *if you take care of the place*.

take care of the place. Reduce your numbers. grow the fuck up and deal with the limitations the earth requires. It's not your planet. You just live here.

Agreed. Someday, people will simply wake up to the fact that we evolved to be here, and anything outside of our thin biospheric shell is simply not "a really good idea". There's nothing wrong with being trapped on earth *if you take care of the place*.

We're not going to Mars. Period. Get over it. At the rate we're going we'll be lucky to feed ourselves by 2025...

words have political meaning. It's like changing the Estate Tax to the Death Tax. When you say "Estate Tax" it's a tax on people leaving millions of dollars to their children. When you say Death Tax, everyone takes affront. Same with piracy. When you say piracy you get multiple responses - the slaughter of innocents, the theft of property, and the romance of the high seas. When you say what it IS, file sharing, it sounds a lot less romantic and destructive.