Join the TAU community as we celebrate this amazing milestone - 50,000 engineers now enrolled! I'll be hosting a Live Stream Party which will include special guests (instructors and students), trivia games, and TAU swag prizes! All who attend will also get a cool new...
Join the TAU community as we c...
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Here is a recipe for programmatically reading data from an Excel spreadsheet using Apache POI. Note that in this example, I'm using the spreadsheet to store test data. However, this is NOT an endorsement to manage your test data this way. This is just one practical...
Here is a recipe for programma...
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Here is the recipe for automating the task of selecting a date from a Date Picker component. I illustrate this recipe with Selenium WebDriver and Java, however, the recipe itself can be used with any automation tool and programming language. Recipe to Automate Date Picker Selection Ingredients ...
Here is the recipe for automat...
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For the next couple of months, I’ll be live streaming every Wednesday at 12:00 PM PST. In each session, I’ll take a specific automation challenge and come up with a recipe for solving it....
For the next couple of months,...
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The most popular design pattern used in web UI test codebases is the Page Object Model (POM) design pattern. These tips should help you design healthy classes that implement the Page Object Model design pattern. The use of this pattern promotes separation of concerns (e.g....
The most popular design patter...
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I joined a live Twitch session with Jason Lengstorf on his show "Learn with Jason". We paired as I showed him how to use Cypress for test automation, and also how to add visual testing to his suite, using Applitools. We had an absolute blast building...
I joined a live Twitch session...
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I've released a brand new course - completely free - on Selenium WebDriver with Java! The Test Automation University course takes you from zero to 100, covering introductory and advanced concepts in 3.5 hours! I cover all of the following in this free Selenium tutorial: How to...
I've released a brand new cour...
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Behavior Driven Development, also known as BDD, is an example-based methodology for developing software. The key to BDD is collaborative exercises between Business, Development, and Testers. These parties are collectively known as the Three Amigos. When beginning the work for a new feature, the three amigos...
Behavior Driven Development, a...
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Since Java 8, there have been many cool features introduced. In fact, Java is releasing a new version every 6 months! With so many additions, it can be hard to keep up. Here’s how some of the newer features from Java 8 – 12 can...
Since Java 8, there have been ...
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Most people do a pretty lazy job of testing APIs. In my ABCs of APIs workshop, I ask people to manually test an API. When looking at a response, they typically glance at it, and maybe carefully review some of the key fields. Same goes...
Most people do a pretty lazy j...
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With Java being the most popular language for test automation, I decided to create a FREE course that teaches core Java! This course is a self-paced, online video course which includes tons of practical examples and also exercises for you to try on your own. Many...
With Java being the most popul...
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A code smell is code that isn't technically wrong, meaning, it works; however, the implementation of said code is problematic in that it's difficult to manage and thus can lead to delayed development time and even the introduction of bugs. There are many writings about code...
A code smell is code that isn'...
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There's been a resurgence of codeless test automation tools. I've been burned by these types of tools in the past, so have written an open letter to codeless tool vendors with a list of demands. Many have responded. There's also been lively discussion from community...
There's been a resurgence of c...
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I recently conducted research to determine the most widely used programming languages for UI test automation. A complete write-up of my findings, with percentage breakdowns, can be found on Applitools blog. But here's the results at a quick glance....
I recently conducted research ...
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DZone published a 2019 Guide to DevOps e-Book which contains a chapter that I've written called Testing in CI. In this chapter, I cover key considerations which are needed for your automated tests if you'd like them to be a part of your team's continuous...
DZone published a 2019 Guide ...
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I've published a free course on Test Automation University that walks you through how to define a successful test automation strategy and the many considerations you need to make to do so. This course is great for those who are starting a new test automation...
I've published a free course ...
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Fun fact: In addition to being an automation engineer, I am also a game designer. I created a competitive fashion game that has all of the elements that keep players coming back for years. In this talk, I share the key aspects to game design and...
Fun fact: In addition to being...
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Joe Colantonio hosted Dave Haeffner, Gil Tayar, and myself for a roundtable to discuss 2019 trends in test automation. We discussed some side effects in tooling and automation practices we're seeing due to the continuous testing movement; the re-emergence of codeless test automation tools; which...
Joe Colantonio hosted Dave Hae...
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When automating scenarios, we have to be very careful to capture all of the various verification points that a tester would process when executing a test. I've written about this issue in Adding a Peripheral View to Test Automation, and stressed how important it is...
When automating scenarios, we ...
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There is a great demand for software development engineers in test (SDETs), which is a hybrid role between Developer and Tester. However many employers are finding that simply finding a developer who writes test or a tester who writes code is not enough. There's so...
There is a great demand for ...
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For many, Machine Learning and AI are nothing more than buzz words. However, machine learning is a realized form of AI that is currently being utilized by top tech companies in products that we use every day. For this reason, it’s important that we understand...
For many, Machine Learning and...
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I've been exploring some of the newer testing tools lately and this week I had a look at TestProject. This tool promotes itself as a free community-driven test automation application, which really piqued my interest. It works as a graphical interface to industry-standard test automation...
I've been exploring some of th...
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With JavaMail API, I've been able to not only verify that an email was received, but also verify its contents, open links within the email, extract data sent (temp passwords, verification codes, etc). Someone recently asked me about email verification within automation, so I decided...
With JavaMail API, I've been a...
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Does your application and test automation code reside in separate repositories? If so you're missing out. Angie Jones explains the benefits....
Does your application and test...
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I’ve seen (and written) several automation projects where each page class requires a constructor that takes a WebDriver object so that the page classes can access the current browser instance. There’s nothing particularly wrong with this, but I do find it a bit annoying to...
I’ve seen (and written) severa...
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Are you interested in becoming a test automation engineer? Do you lead a team you'd like to see transition toward test automation by learning the skills needed to do this role? Here's a 3-step guide on how to get started with the test automation career path. Simply...
Are you interested in becoming...
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The concept of shifting left suggests that testing be done earlier in the software development process. The notion of this is admirable and, when done properly, can enable teams to be very successful with their quality initiatives. However, the implementation of this practice is often...
The concept of shifting left s...
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When learning an object-oriented programming (OOP) language, we learn about key concepts in theory, but it's not always clear on how to apply those concepts to practical software development. And many automation engineers learn programming by taking the hands-on approach and jumping head first into scripting...
When learning an object-orient...
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At Twitter, we currently have 14 automation engineers and more than a quarter of them are new college hires. All of us work on different projects which span various areas and platforms: web, iOS, android, web services, etc. In a shop like this, it's very...
At Twitter, we currently have ...
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When done properly, Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) can drastically improve the communication and understanding of requirements. An additional benefit is being able to utilize the domain-specific language of the requirements to drive test automation. However, like any other automation initiative, when done poorly, this too can...
When done properly, Behavior-D...
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Mike Horn, a writer for Smartsheet, reached out to me and several other test automation practitioners for a piece he was writing on the basics of test automation. Mike, not being an automation engineer himself, didn't know what he was getting into when he opened...
Mike Horn, a writer for Smarts...
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It's no secret that I've led several successful automation projects, however, to get to this point I had to learn quite a few painful lessons the hard way. As the saying goes, experience is the greatest teacher. Well hopefully, you can utilize my experiences to...
It's no secret that I've led s...
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Once upon a time I needed to automate tests for machine learning...
Once upon a time I needed to a...
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European Testing Conference 2017 ...
European Testing Conference 20...
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If you search online for articles on Behavior-Driven Development (BDD), you're likely to find more literature on how everyone is doing it wrong versus what it really is and practical success stories in using it. I've read article after article explaining how teams are claiming...
If you search online for artic...
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As quality initiatives shift left in an agile world, software testing teams realize that they must rely on the fast feedback of automated scenarios for continuous integration and deployment. But even when people understand test automation basics, most automation initiatives fail. There are many reasons why test automation initiatives fall short,...
As quality initiatives shift l...
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When interviewing candidates for UI automation openings, I like to give them typical automation 'problems' to solve. Most of the problems provide them with a picture of a UI and the corresponding HTML, and ask how they would automate something given a tricky DOM. I'm...
When interviewing candidates f...
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