In part 1, I explained some of the reasoning behind automated software testing. Now let's explore a few of the more common types of automated tests that we often deal with.
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Let's talk about automated software testing. I realize that a lot has already been said on this subject, but it seems that there's still a significant amount of misunderstanding in this important area of software development. I'm going to attempt to shine some light on a few of the core…
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I'm lucky enough to follow a good number of people on Twitter who, unwittingly, generate great writing prompts for me. Recently, I've seen a few discussions that focus on questioning modern criteria used by software companies in their hiring policies/processes. Passion is one such criterion. Why is it that passion…
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As software developers, we often have to deal with encrypting sensitive data. These days, for most of us, that simply means integrating with and enabling existing security frameworks. For web developers, it's often as easy as configuring the web server to use HTTPS. (Please note that due to the relatively…
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Virtual private networks, or VPNs, are used by lots of companies, big and small, to connect offices to other offices around the world and to allow people to connect from remote locations into their corporate networks for a variety of reasons - usually having something to do with productivity. But…
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Inspired by a Twitter conversation regarding REST APIs, I wanted to better express my thoughts and feelings about API design (and I use the term API to not just mean REST API, but also frameworks and anything else that you might create that has some sort of interface for other…
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I almost named this post "Yet Another Personal Opinion On Pairing", but the resulting acronym didn't seem entirely appropriate. So, what's the big deal with pairing - or pair programming, as it were? Overall, it can be a very useful tool. It often helps to flesh out the design of…
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Hey, you! Do you have a blog? Or a website? Now, tell me this: is it accessible over HTTPS? If you're like most people, your answer is going to be something along the lines of, "No, why should I bother? I have nothing security-critical on my site, and I'm certainly…
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HashProp is a Windows shell extension that I decided to write at the previous Carmel Code and Coffee meetup. Basically, it adds a new tab to the File Properties dialog for every file in Windows with the ability to calculate the file's hashes:
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It seems that I recreate my blog every few years, painstakingly migrating old posts to the new blog engine, ensuring that they continue to look decent, and generally improving things. It's no different this time: I've retired my Drupal-based blog, mainly because I'm tired of having to constantly make sure that…
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