A software tester with no tools to assist or help ... this is as horrible as one can imagine. If one still has any doubt why don't read this article before just freezing your view. So a tool is a vehicle, a resource! Well said.On its own the tool has limitations, it needs a human driver - who else other than us can be a good driver?
Once we agree on this point - let us take a step further and determine which tools we need. The biggest blunder is to 'assume' that if there is no automation or performance testing, then the tools are not required.
Let me make a small attempt to provide some vibrant thoughts:
- calculator available in your windows machine is your tool.
- windows accessibility options are your tools.
- zoom facility provided in browser is your tool.
- tools are required everywhere - NO MATTER WHAT TYPE OF TESTING IS INVOLVED.
So here is the sincere request from CAT - to keep your eyes "Open". With wide open eyes there are a number of free (& Open source) solutions available. Let me share list of some interesting tools and utilities:
Memtest - these are designed to stress test the X86 computers RAM. The default pass does 9 different tests, varying in access patterns and test data. For OSX, check Memtest OSX.
Webscarab - This framework is used for analysing applications that communicate using the HTTP and HTTPS protocols. It is written in Java, and is thus portable to many platforms. One need to have at least good understanding of the HTTP protocol to work with this tool.
nmon - Provides performance data for AIX and Linux platforms and is used for for monitoring and analyzing the servers. A large number of details are provided by this tool e.g. CPU utilization, disk I/O rates, top processors, run queue information.
perfmon - SNMP based performance monitoring tool with web interface and facility to add new graphs.
PICT - a Microsoft algorith for pairwise testing. The concept of pair wise testing is extremely useful across testing phases and in both functional and non functional testing.
win32: GUI Test - a Perl module for windows GUI automation
Xenu Link Sleuth - is a computer program to check broken hyperlinks.This is a proprietary software available at no charge.
Screen recorders:
Jing - captures images and video
CaptureFox - freeware Firefox add-on. It records every action within the browser.
HTTP: Recorder - Perl module Browser-independent recorder that records interactions with web sites.
Dexpot - a virtual desktop tool, that allows to switch between different virtual desktop connections easily.
This list is not complete, and in my opinion there can never be a complete list. However, this is a good starting point. There are other well known tools (for test automation, performance testing, security testing, etc) that are not in this list - but one can easily find them on internet.
Once we agree on this point - let us take a step further and determine which tools we need. The biggest blunder is to 'assume' that if there is no automation or performance testing, then the tools are not required.
Let me make a small attempt to provide some vibrant thoughts:
- calculator available in your windows machine is your tool.
- windows accessibility options are your tools.
- zoom facility provided in browser is your tool.
- tools are required everywhere - NO MATTER WHAT TYPE OF TESTING IS INVOLVED.
So here is the sincere request from CAT - to keep your eyes "Open". With wide open eyes there are a number of free (& Open source) solutions available. Let me share list of some interesting tools and utilities:
Memtest - these are designed to stress test the X86 computers RAM. The default pass does 9 different tests, varying in access patterns and test data. For OSX, check Memtest OSX.
Webscarab - This framework is used for analysing applications that communicate using the HTTP and HTTPS protocols. It is written in Java, and is thus portable to many platforms. One need to have at least good understanding of the HTTP protocol to work with this tool.
nmon - Provides performance data for AIX and Linux platforms and is used for for monitoring and analyzing the servers. A large number of details are provided by this tool e.g. CPU utilization, disk I/O rates, top processors, run queue information.
perfmon - SNMP based performance monitoring tool with web interface and facility to add new graphs.
PICT - a Microsoft algorith for pairwise testing. The concept of pair wise testing is extremely useful across testing phases and in both functional and non functional testing.
win32: GUI Test - a Perl module for windows GUI automation
Xenu Link Sleuth - is a computer program to check broken hyperlinks.This is a proprietary software available at no charge.
Screen recorders:
Jing - captures images and video
CaptureFox - freeware Firefox add-on. It records every action within the browser.
HTTP: Recorder - Perl module Browser-independent recorder that records interactions with web sites.
Dexpot - a virtual desktop tool, that allows to switch between different virtual desktop connections easily.
This list is not complete, and in my opinion there can never be a complete list. However, this is a good starting point. There are other well known tools (for test automation, performance testing, security testing, etc) that are not in this list - but one can easily find them on internet.
