I was recently interviewed for a cool article on test automation by Elisa Gabbert. It was posted this week on SearchSoftwareQuality.com. My favorite quote:

Kelly was less cautious. "As for bleeding-edge tools, I think it's all fair game," he said. "I often find that I'm writing automated tests from scratch in Ruby or Java, but for the bulk of the automation work there are many great tools available (both commercially and open source)."

I just like being classified as "less cautious." It makes me smile. I know that I'm about as conservative as they come when it comes to tool selection, so it's ironic that I'm the loose cannon.

I will say, I was surprised when I read Scarpino's comment that unit test tools might not be ready for prime time. I don't think I could disagree more. I think the tools are great and when I find developers who aren't doing developer testing - they loose points with me. That is of course provided they work in a language and project context where it's easy to do that testing.

I like the article. Glad I was asked to be involved.

A while ago I answered the following question on SearchSoftwareQuality.com’s Ask The Software Quality Expert: Questions & Answers .

I am a beginner software tester. I want to learn HP's Quick Test Professional (QTP) better and make my own test scripts, but I'm unable to find good material to teach me from scratch. Can you please help?

Here is a clip from my answer:

Learn about QTP

Finally, the last thing you'll want to learn is the tool you're using. It's important that you understand the tools you're using, but not nearly as important as knowing when to apply it or under what conditions. Everything else in this response leads up to this. If you know how to test and how to write good code, and you know the historical issues in test automation, then you're ready to dig into the tool. It provides a context for really understanding what the features do, what they don't, and how to apply them. To that end, here are some resources for getting started in HP Mercury Quick Test Professional.

First, read the manual. I know that sounds silly, and there aren't really manuals any longer (just online help), but still -- read it. It's dry, boring and information-packed! You wont remember everything you read, not even half, but you'll get exposure to everything. And you don't really have to read it all -- skim liberally. You need to know this stuff.

Next, I recommend setting up some RSS feeds. Content every couple of days is a good pace for learning tips and tricks. And if you have time, you can always go back and look at existing posts. I recommend the following sites:

• http://www.learnqtp.com/


• http://qtp.blogspot.com/


• http://quicktestprofessional.wordpress.com/


• http://quicktesthp.blogspot.com/

They aren't the best-formatted blogs, and a few may have a lot of ads, but they have good content.

You can find the full posting here .