I have recently joined the Ministry of Testing Bloggers' Club, which aims to encourage its bloggers to blog, and to blog better. The first topic we've been suggested is a technical tip every tester should know. This seems a bit like Radio 4's Just a Minute, where you are given a topic and then have … Continue reading Be careful when and what you automate
An introduction to integers and floating point numbers
Integers on a computer are simple and behave in predictable ways. Floating point numbers are not and don’t always respectively – I’ll explain what they are and why below. Working with floating point numbers is also slightly like cleaning up after my dogs, which I will also explain below. Integers Integers are a bit like … Continue reading An introduction to integers and floating point numbers
Fault tolerance
Introduction I am slowly working my way through the 300+ back issues of the podcast Software Engineering Radio. I've got as far as a couple of excellent episodes on fault tolerance with Bob Hanmer. I recommend that you listen to them, even if (like me) you don't have to worry about this kind of thing … Continue reading Fault tolerance
Reading JSON in SQL Server 2016
Introduction There's a lot of this that I won't have time or space to cover, so for more information, I suggest you look at Microsoft's blog on SQL Server + JSON. What I will cover is the OPENJSON table-valued function, which lets you turn JSON text into a result set, i.e. rows and columns. One … Continue reading Reading JSON in SQL Server 2016
Balancing big picture and details when coding, testing and documenting
Introduction I very much hope that this avoids being a rant. I also hope it avoids being self-indulgently clever rather than being helpful. Finally, I understand that people learn in different ways; I think I like images and like to get the big picture before getting into detail. Other people like to be led along … Continue reading Balancing big picture and details when coding, testing and documenting
Single-step your code before you hit bugs
Introduction The habits or practices you adopt as a programmer influence your productivity and the quality of your output. The consequences of these practices can be good or bad, intended or unintended. After a brief stop off at the practice Test-Driven Development, I will go into another one: using a debugger to single-step your code … Continue reading Single-step your code before you hit bugs
Introduction to Single Sign-On using SAML
Disclaimer First, some important stuff: I am not a security expert. Please do not think that after reading this article you will know everything you need to before implementing Single Sign-On (SSO) using SAML. It is meant to be an introduction, so that you can have an easier job understanding the details when you get … Continue reading Introduction to Single Sign-On using SAML
Testing data preparation for a BI database
Introduction Before we can get into testing, first I will explain the BI database and how it’s created. BI is short for Business Intelligence. It can mean different things to different people, but the definition I’m going to use is some form of storing data in a way that helps people to make decisions. It … Continue reading Testing data preparation for a BI database
Psychology, not technology, is the key to Google’s reliability
An excellent video by a Google Site Reliability Engineer, from Goto Conference 2017. What I liked in particular were three key points: Being honest that trying to have operations act as border guards, who attempt to vet code changes with an increasingly-long checklist before they go live, is a path to failure and frustration. Agreeing … Continue reading Psychology, not technology, is the key to Google’s reliability
Guest post on BoagWorld
Have you ever wondered what one of my posts would look like if it were nicely formatted, included some pretty pictures, and was written in understandable words? Well, wonder no more. I've written an article on Paul Boag's blog, and he has kindly used his graphic design skills to make it look nice. To people … Continue reading Guest post on BoagWorld
Random Tech Thoughts 