1. Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 1 Open Source Script Languages and Utilities What Every Tester Should Know Paul Gerrard paul@gerrardconsulting.com Twitter: @paul_gerrard@paul_gerrard Web: gerrardconsulting.comgerrardconsulting.com

2. “I’m a tester, not a techie” Like saying, “I don’t know how a plane works” OK if you’re a steward, but not OK if you’re a professional pilot Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 2

3. Your team are at a disadvantage if you don’t have someone who ‘knows how to code’ Increasingly, employers are looking for testers with programming skills Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 3

4. Agenda My thesis: – You, or at least your team, need scripting (and open source skills) The march of open source How do I start? Ten things scripting languages can do for you Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 4

5. Some Open Source Research Courtesy of the Times 23 October 2012

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8. Open Source is on the march Clearly, most IT management have decided that OS is worth pursuing – Reduce or eliminate licensing costs – Take ownership of risk and support or (preferred) hire professional services to take the burden Whichever route your organisation takes, it seems likely we’ll all be working much more with open source products. Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 8

9. Most Script Languages are Open Source Free to download, all platforms, many books, enthusiastic user communities

10. What is a scripting language? Mostly script languages have a unix/linux heritage But because they are open source, they have ALL been ported to windows, Mac whatever Examples: – Python, Perl, PHP, (V)Basic (program) – Bash+others, Windows Cmd prompt, Powershell These are not scripting languages: – C, Java, C++, Visual C/Basic Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 10

11. “How do I get started with open source” Buy a RaspberyPI (Or tear off a DVD from a Linux magazine and install on an old pc) Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 11

12. What is a Raspberry PI? Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 12

13. What it is really It’s a fully functional computer for $25 Not particularly fast, but all you need is: – A power supply (micro usb) – Connector to TV (poor) or HDMI to monitor – Network cable to your router – SDHC Card - 2Gb works >8Gb better – Keyboard and Mouse Case – cases can cost as much as the RPI Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 13

14. Raspbian OS A cut down version of the Debian Linux distribution – the same source as Ubuntu Python is the installed language, but you can install any script language in just a few commands (with an internet connection) I’ve had the full technology stack for Business Story Manager running on a RPI – Mysql, Web2py, Postfix mail, 100+ DB tables, 170 web screens all on an 8Gb SDHC card – Total cost: £35 Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 14

15. RaspberryPI in schools Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 15

16. Manufacturers are shipping 4-5,000 Raspberry PIs per DAY 250,000+ shipped so far Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 16

17. But I want a ‘proper PC/Workstation’ Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 17

18. Want a more powerful option? No need for $$$ workstations – Linux uses less than half the resources of Windows I buy most of my hardware off eBay nowadays A 2 nd hand Dell Optiplex small form factor PC sells for £30-35 I use one of these for all my applications development and a 5 year old server as a test environment (I could use a PI, but don’t). Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 18

19. Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 19 My development PC is a model like this – it cost me £27.50 plus £10 postage in May 2012 – works a treat

20. So, it’s easy to get started What can I actually do with my scripting skills? Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 20

21. Things a tester can do with a decent scripting language Only limited by your imagination I have done all these (and still do some today) Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 21

22. Extract text from flat files and generate test data Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 22

23. Generate test data combinations from a table of seed datavalues Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 23

24. Create an all-pairs table of test combinations for configuration tests Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 24

25. Compare the contents of files while masking columns, rows and selected patterns of data Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 25

26. Drive simple web transactions from the command line to load test data Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 26

27. Create a test environment monitoring utility that emails you when your web servers are down Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 27

28. Backup your test results files into an archive Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 28

29. Generate template test automation code from HTML (Robot, Selenium etc.) Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 29

30. Generate a basic HTML web page mockup directly from story scenarios Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 30

31. Generate unit test harness code from your story scenarios Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 31

32. Create graphical coverage maps from your test records records Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 32

33. Analyse the text of your requirements and test documents using a natural language processor Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 33

34. Generate a first cut glossary of terms for your documentation and identify new terms as they appear Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 34

35. Create test reports in HTML from plain text reports or tester notes (and mail summaries to the team every day) Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 35

36. Post incident reports directly to a web based IR tool via the command line Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 36

37. OK that was more than ten But you get the idea You don’t need to be a super coder to do most of these things. Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 37

38. Close Convinced yet? Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 38

39. Discussion All sounds rosy - what’s stopping you? Hardware not the issue? – Can’t add uncertified hardware to our network – Can’t install software to our systems Our people won’t write code Our managers won’t let non-techies write code (Catch 22?) Developers won’t like it If developers are legacy/proprietary – they are in for a shock if they’re resistant/not ready. Intelligent Testing, Improvement and AssuranceSlide 39