How to stay ahead

April 7, 2009

This is a test case from my current project:

Scenario: Finish gathering information
  Given I have an open case
  And the case has a task "gather information from X"
  And the case has a task "gather information from Y"
  When the user confirms that task "gather information from X" is completed
  And the user confirms that task "gather information from Y" is completed
  Then the case should generate a new task "evaluate customer standing"

It seems pretty run of the mill. A tester will sit down with a bunch of these and try out the application.

Except that the tester in question is not a person! Instead it is a program named Cucumber.

I first learned the ideas behind Cucumber from Dan North at the ROOTS 2005 conference. And this year at the ROOTS 2009 conference Aslak Hellesøy, the creator of Cucumber, will give a tutorial that brings the ideas of Behaviour Driven Development as the next step in effective requirements and testing into the mainstream.

I’ve been attending the ROOTS conferences every year since 2000 and was on the committee for three years. The conference hosts world-class speakers and has a focus on up and coming ideas. It’s a small and intimate conference with tutorial style sessions that lets the speakers go into depth on their areas of expertize.

Do you want to stay years ahead in your field? Go to Bergen for the ROOTS 2009 conference April 27th to 29th.