The World's Largest Software Testing Event Returns to the Happiest Place on Earth

Market Wire, October, 2004

The Software Testing Analysis & Review (STARWEST 2004) http://www.sqe.com/swpr Conference will take place November 15-19, 2004, at the Disneyland® Hotel in Anaheim, California, providing guidance and state-of-the-art best practices, tools, and services to software professionals from many organizations -- large, small, and industry-wide -- around the globe. The mission of this conference, now in its 12th year, is to help make sense of trends, technologies, and strategies in the testing world today.

Testing experts share their insight at STARWEST 2004 in a dynamic technical program consisting of 41 presentations of testing experiences from leading software organizations. The presentations cover outsourcing, security, and many other hot-topics in the industry.

The Testing EXPO on November 17-18 is designed to bring the latest solutions in testing technologies, software, and tools. A complete list of conference sponsors and exhibitors is available by visiting http://www.sqe.com/starwest/expo.asp.

Keynote Sessions

The keynote sessions are an opportunity to gain insight and receive information from respected international testing experts. They will take place Wednesday, November 17th, through Friday, November 19th. For additional information regarding the entire conference program, visit the master conference schedule located at http://www.sqe.com/starwest/glance.asp.

In "Getting Your Testing Message Across," Isabel Evans asks, "Do our reports add value for their audience or are we just supplying 'chart junk' that will not be read?" She discusses what types of information different audiences need and when; how to display information using charts, diagrams, and text to be effective; and how to predict future progress from past reports. Isabel is a Principal Consultant at Testing Solutions Group and has over 20 years experience in the IT industry, mainly in quality management and testing, both as a practitioner and as a trainer.

Jamie Mitchell, winner of Best Presentation at STAREAST 2004, outlines different test automation architectures in "Test Automation Architectures -- Best Practices in Your Context." He provides an up-to-date review of test automation tool categories for functional testing and discusses what it takes to implement them robustly. As Principal Consultant at Test & Automation Consulting LLC, Jamie is responsible for developing and implementing test automation initiatives for a range of clients.

In "Gotcha! ... Security Testing for Mission Critical Applications," Mike Andrews shares his favorite top ten holes in Web site security including "SQL injection'' and "cross-site scripting,'' shows examples of each, and discusses the effects these security breaches can have on your site. Mike is an assistant professor in the department of computer sciences and a member of the Center or Information Assurance at the Florida Institute of Technology.

Elisabeth Hendrickson presents "I've Looked at Bugs from Both Sides Now." Elisabeth explores how testing and QA professionals can work more effectively with developers. Along the way she will expose and refute some of the fallacies and myths that lead to dysfunctional behaviors, and provide concrete suggestions for developing healthier relationships within the whole product team. Founder and president of Quality Tree Software, Inc., Elisabeth is an independent consultant specializing in software quality and management.

In "Testing in an Outsourced World," Rex Black offers a testing perspective and lessons learned from his involvement in successful -- and not-so-successful -- outsourcing projects. Rex illustrates his points with case studies and shares humorous and scary anecdotes along the way. Rex , a 20-year software and systems engineering veteran, is President and Principal Consultant of RBCS, Inc. Serving its worldwide clientele with training, consulting, staffing, and on-site, off-site, and offshore project execution expertise, RBCS has clients in sixteen countries on four continents.

Scott Ambler, an early proponent of the agile movement, presents "Testers and Testing in Agile Development." Scott explains the fundamentals, values, and principles of agile development. He describes a range of agile techniques and explores many myths and misconceptions surrounding agility. Scott is a Senior Consultant with Ronin International, Inc., focusing on software process improvement. He writes the Agile Edge column for Software Development magazine and is the author of several books including Agile Modeling, The Object Primer, and Agile Database Techniques.

WHO'S BEHIND THE CONFERENCE?

Software Quality Engineering assists software professionals and organizations interested in improving customer service, boosting productivity, and improving ROI through better software quality practices. Software Quality Engineering hosts three of the industry's most recognized software quality conferences including the STAR conference series and the Better Software Conference & EXPO. From the classroom to the Web, Software Quality Engineering delivers software testing and development seminars, provides consulting services, specialized publications, and research. www.sqe.com