Sites of Interest
iTKO has assembled this area to give you starting points on your own journey toward quality. Finding the right testing technology is only a small part of the challenge. Knowledge, discipline, and teamwork will take you the rest of the way.
We know there are plenty of good links out there, so if you see something we should list, send the link and a brief description to webmaster@itko.com.
Quality websites
iTKO Blog: John's SOA Quality Rant
Software Quality and Automated Testing discussion with Chief Architect John Michelsen and other iTKO executives. We invite you to share your SOA stories, QA tips and development insights in this forum. No question is too deep, or too silly.
Learn SOA at soamasterclass.com with iTKO and other SOA Masters
Quality-related organizations
Software Engineering Institute (at Carnegie-Mellon)
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/
Yeah! Your tax dollars are hard at work here. The U.S. government got sick of paying good money for bad software, so they funded some of the best minds in software to come up with standards they could rely upon. 20 years later, the SEI is still going strong. This group authored the CMMi standards for software development that many companies aspire to attain.
IEEE Computer Society - http://www.computer.org/
The stalwart and well-participated software forum that sort of started it all, check it out. No bubbas here.
Software Quality Assurance Testing Articles - from LogiGear
Articles, white papers, and more on important software testing topics from peers in the software quality field.
International Function Point Users Group - http://www.ifpug.org/
This consulting-oriented consortium is build upon the Function Point practice of identifying and prioritizing issues based on the business need. Great if you are on the business or consulting end of software development and want to make and enforce requirements more effectively.
Software Quality Institute – University of Texas at Austin
Quality Publications
Software quality is not a new field, but in terms of publishing, it wasn’t usually separated from more generalist areas of software development, such as programming on the back end and usability on the front end.
Software Test & Performance – http://www.stpmag.com
This relatively new publication from BZ Media (the fine folks that bring you SD Times) is coming along very nicely in content and relevance. Don’t be surprised if iTKO makes an occasional appearance here. If you are a software quality maven, we highly recommend getting a subscription.
Stickyminds.com
This quality-only website has a wealth of good information. Published by SQE – Software Quality Engineering, this industry group publishes Better Software magazine and hosts several quality events and training seminars across the country.
Better Software
This is the publishing arm of the Software Quality Engineering group, the team that brings you the StickyMinds.com website. The content in BS is not “BS.” This magazine contains uniformly good, vendor-neutral, practical tips you can use every day from well-known experts in software quality.
Baseline
Though this Ziff-Davis pub is more of a generalist CIO/IT Director’s guide, each issue we get has plenty of great material on how to keep software functioning according to the business’ needs, on time and on budget. And if that’s not useful material, what is?
Other Relevant Publications
Here’s a few other useful magazines that you might find in our foyer!
Java Developers’ Journal (JDJ) – SYS-CON remains a definitive source of techniques for Java programmers, among many other technology-specific publications.
InfoWorld – a short but always useful weekly for IT and software pros. Great reviews of software too.
SD Times – the tabloid that is a good read for keeping up on new developments in the software development field
Software Development – we’ve always read this CMP magazine, and will continue to, as long as we have caffeine.
Application Development Trends – a little more in-depth on both the business and technology requirements of software. Good stuff.
Business 2.0 – always entertaining and gives you new ideas as well as the current “hype” in business technology as well as other motivational things.
Fast Company – like Business 2.0, but more general business than cutting edge.
Wired – yup, Wired still exists, in an alternate wearable computer virtual reality.
CIO Insight – looks very important on your desktop.
Harvard Business Review – looks even more important on your desktop.
Methods & Tools – Free e-newsletter providing practical knowledge for software development professionals
Online-only publications
FutureFeeder - This is just a really cool site of new technology you won't regret visiting often.
Computerworld – A software generalist website, good for background information and editorials.
Line56 - Emerged in the boom and still has useful information for any technology executive or learner.
UseIt.com – Jacob Nielsen’s online journal of usability tips for software design contains many ease-of-use techniques that software vendors could learn from. Including ourselves. And including useit.com.
IT Toolbox – We’re not sure what the point of this is, other than the fact that they buy up any IT related term on Google, and you can follow the link here to pick up the sponsored papers/links.
Automated Functional Testing Notes - Wilson Mar's unvarnished discussion on some of the existing functional UI testing tools on the market.
Loosely Coupled - One of the long-time leading aggregators of useful comment and content on SOA development and integration trends. Worth visiting often.
Please let us know if you find a useful resource at webmaster@itko.com.