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QW2001 Paper 6A1 Mr. Steve Whitchurch Trials and Tribulations Of Testing a Java/C++ Hybrid Application |
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My paper is about a project that was to build a viewer (Streamview) that would take a GDSII (Graphical Design Data) Stream File as input, and display it using as little system memory as possible, and as fast as possible. GDSII design files can be Giga Bytes in size, and use a lot of system resources. The underlying code would be written in C++, while the user interface would be written in Java. These two layers would then communicate using the JNI. This combination of C++, Java, and the complexities of an application like this, generated a whole lot of questions on how to test such an application. This paper will talk about some of the issues, and how as a team, we solved them. The paper addresses the following areas:
1. QA & Developemnt Roles.
2. C++/Java Testing Issues.
3. Test Automation Tools.
4. Project Documentation.
5. Problem Reporting within the Project.
6. Alpha/Beta Tetsing.
7. Conclusion/Future Work.
Steve Whitchurch has been in the Software QA arena for 17 years. During that time he has worked at Intel, Mentor Graphics, Summet Design, Tektronics, and is currently the lead QA Engineer for a new product line in the Custom IC Devision of Mentor Graphics. Steve has been involved in testing everything from Real Time Operation System Software, Vidio Editing and Special Effect Software, to Electronic Design Automation Software. Steve has also been active outside of the work environment as a Speaker at PNSQC and STAR. Steve was also the creator and publisher of the Software QA Magazine (now known as Software Testing & Quality Engineering Magazine, published by SQE). Steve as writes for the QQ/Testing Web Site, Sticky Minds.