1. Programming
Skills for Test
Automation
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2. Overview
Programming skills for test architecture
and design
Programming skills for automated tests
Performance testing skills
Configuration management skills
Manual testing interaction
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3. Automation testing
creating programs to test other programs
Test engineer implements automated tests using
the same techniques as the ones used in software
developments
This is the point where the fun begins 
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4. Job Description
Roles and Responsabilities: Skills:
Build advanced automated
test suites to exercise x years relevant work
applications experience
Work with the development Excellent coding skills in C,
and test engineering teams C++, Java, C# or Python.
to automate testing Good scripting skills in at
Conduct research on least one common language
emerging technologies (Python, Perl, Shell).
Analyze and decompose a
complicated software
system and design a strategy
to test this system
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5. Test Automation
Test automation lifecycle
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6. Test Automation
Test automation and software development lifecycle
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7. Analysis and Prototype
Select automation use cases from requirements
No third party tools can guarantee success of test
automation and return of investment:
design & implement a customized testing framework
which can use existing tools - open source/ commercial /
own custom tools
create maintainable libraries of tests
Provide the main models/principles used in
architecting the testing system
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8. Architecture and Design
TEST DATA
SELECTS
ACCORDING TO
SETTINGS
CHECK SCRIPTS USE
SCRIPTS
SETTINGS
RETRIEVE GUI ELEMENTS
MAIN FROM AUT
APPLICATION
AUTOMATION
TOOL
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9. Architectural Skills
Object oriented analysis and design
Design patterns
Creational patterns
• Singleton, Factory, Builder, Object pool
Structural patterns
• Composite, Proxy pattern
Behavioral patterns
• Observer pattern, Strategy
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10. Test Development
OOP concepts
Encapsulation, Abstraction, Inheritance, Polymorphism
Knowledge of the programming / scripting
languages
Selected test tool(s) scripting language(s)
and capabilities
Greatest advantages of programming skills:
Perform verifications accurate and repeatedly
Build your own tools if nothing helps
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11. Test Types
Unit tests
Regression tests
GUI testing
Database
Files
Performance tests
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12. Unit Tests
Requirements and user documentation knowhow
Skills:
Working with value types, strings, objects and
collections, serialization in selected programming
language/ or equivalent in scripting language
WebService: working with SOAP and REST interfaces
(requests/ responses)
xUnit frameworks
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13. GUI Automation
Ease of script maintenance rule:
Use tool(s) to identify UI controls
Select properties which are not changed every build
Don’t depend on the OS environment
• e.g. select the id/ name of the object, not coordinates
• tree searching algorithms can improve lookup performance
Desktop applications:
Win32 API can be used
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14. GUI Automation
Direct access to the GUI specific remarks:
.NET:
• invoke delegates to manage control
• STA threads for GUI operations
Android:
• Perform operations on main thread
Others have their rules too 
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15. Database
DB skills used from test tool or in custom
program :
Database connection
SQL CRUD operations
Data structures to compare GUI / DB values and
expected result
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16. Files – Logs verification
File handling:
• Open
• Read/ write (if needed)
• Close
• Watch for changes
(Large) Strings handling methods:
• search for strings
• extract substrings
XML parsing
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17. Performance Testing
Existing tools:
JMeter, Test complete, etc for the AUT load/
stress testing
Build custom tools for better coverage of
the business use cases
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18. Custom Performance Tests
Measuring responsiveness:
Multimedia timers
Operations on date/ time objects
Simulate users with threads
Operations with threads
Thread synchronization and data structure
access
Concurrency design patterns: active object,
thread pool pattern
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Programming Skills for Test Automation

19. Performance Tests Extras
Nice to have:
Working with Performance counters
Chart controls for displaying results
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20. Continuous Execution
Configuration management:
Automated tests can be integrated in build systems or in
dedicated systems for continuous execution
Skills:
Usage of batch/ bash files
Working with schedules tasks
Integration in continuous build systems (Cruise Control,
Hudson, etc)
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21. Don’t Forget
Coding guidelines
Naming conventions
In case the scripting language does not
support OOP try to avoid as much as
possible having duplicate code
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22. Manual Interaction
Test failures from an automated test run
still must be analyzed manually
Any part of:
Provisioning and setting up the machine to run
the tests
Kicking off the test run
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23. Conclusion
Successful tool automation depends on:
The tools
(Standard) testing process
The right test team roles, duties
Skills - blend of:
Testing
Programming
Tools knowledge
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24. Questions
?
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