Majelika

• Start the software testing process by analyzing requirements long before development. I object to the word “long” here. It implies that we do big requirements up front. It also more than implies a process smell - the long gap between anaylsis and implementation. Rather, let’s take a look at a story together as a team right before development begins on that story to analyze the requirements and create our tests before we start coding. Then, repeat for the next story.

• Integration testing (performed by IT) performed by the team.
• System testing (performed by professional testers) performed by the team.
• Acceptance testing (performed by business users) performed by the team.

• First let me state this: Automated testing can be extremely useful and can be a real time saver. But it can also turn out to be a very expensive and an invalid solution. I tried to find more some information from Ray on what he means by automated testing but couldn’t find any additional info despite the fact that he has written a few blog posts about automated testing. This statement is usually delivered by someone who has attempted and struggled with automated UI testing. Automated UI testing can be more difficult and more expensive, but Im not sure how it is an "invalid solution". However, automated service testing is comparably simple, not expensive, not invalid, and a consistent time saver. Automated UI testing can still be valuable, but the ratio of service to UI tests should be heavily weighted toward service testing IMO.

• If you like to be instantly popular, don’t become a software tester! You’ll find out that you are going to meet a great deal of resistance. It is very likely that you will end up being the sole defender of quality at a certain point. Other participants in the project will be tempted to go for the deadline, whatever the quality of the application is. This is one of the reasons the agile testing community preaches a whole team approach to quality. Being the sole defender of anything on a project is a problem. We want our teams to own the budget and schedule, not just the PM. We want our teams to own quality, not just the tester, etc.

Our newest set of APIs - Tasks, Calendar v3, Google+ to name a few - are supported by the Google APIs Discovery Service. The Google APIs Discovery service offers an interface that allows developers to programmatically get API metadata such as:

• A directory of supported APIs.
• A list of API resource schemas based on JSON Schema.
• A list of API methods and parameters for each method and their inline documentation.
• A list of available OAuth 2.0 scopes.

The APIs Discovery Service is especially useful when building developer tools, as you can use it to automatically generate certain features. For instance we are using the APIs Discovery Service in our client libraries and in our APIs Explorer but also to generate some of our online API reference.

Because the APIs Discovery Service is itself an API, you can use features such as partial response which is a way to get only the information you need. Let’s look at some of the useful information that is available using the APIs Discovery Service and the partial response feature.

List the supported APIs

You can get the list of all the APIs that are supported by the discovery service by sending a GET request to the following endpoint:

https://www.googleapis.com/discovery/v1/apis?fields=items(title,discoveryLink)

Which will return a JSON feed that looks like this:

{
    "items": [
        …
        {
            "title": "Google+ API",
            "discoveryLink": "./apis/plus/v1/rest"
        },
        {
            "title": "Tasks API",
            "discoveryLink": "./apis/tasks/v1/rest"
        },
        {
            "title": "Calendar API",
            "discoveryLink": "./apis/calendar/v3/rest"
        },
        …
    ]
}

Using the discoveryLink attribute in the resources part of the feed above you can access the discovery document of each API. This is where a lot of useful information about the API can be accessed.

Get the OAuth 2.0 scopes of an API

Using the API-specific endpoint you can easily get the OAuth 2.0 scopes available for that API. For example, here is how to get the scopes of the Google Tasks API:

https://www.googleapis.com/discovery/v1/apis/tasks/v1/rest?fields=auth(oauth2(scopes))

This method returns the JSON output shown below, which indicates that https://www.googleapis.com/auth/tasks and https://www.googleapis.com/auth/tasks.readonly are the two scopes associated with the Tasks API.

{
    "auth": {
        "oauth2": {
            "scopes": {
                "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/tasks": {
                    "description": "Manage your tasks"
                },
                "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/tasks.readonly": {
                    "description": "View your tasks"
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Using requests of this type you could detect which APIs do not support OAuth 2.0. For example, the Translate API does not support OAuth 2.0, as it does not provide access to OAuth protected resources such as user data. Because of this, a GET request to the following endpoint:

https://www.googleapis.com/discovery/v1/apis/translate/v2/rest?fields=auth(oauth2(scopes))

Returns:

{}

Getting scopes required for an API’s endpoints and methods

Using the API-specific endpoints again, you can get the lists of operations and API endpoints, along with the scopes required to perform those operations. Here is an example querying that information for the Google Tasks API:

https://www.googleapis.com/discovery/v1/apis/tasks/v1/rest?fields=resources/*/methods(*(path,scopes,httpMethod))

Which returns:

{
    "resources": {
        "tasklists": {
            "methods": {
                "get": {
                    "path": "users/@me/lists/{tasklist}",                         
                    "httpMethod": "GET",
                    "scopes": [
                        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/tasks",
                        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/tasks.readonly"
                    ]
                },
                "insert": {
                    "path": "users/@me/lists",
                    "httpMethod": "POST",
                    "scopes": [
                        "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/tasks"
                    ]
                },
                …
            }
        },
        "tasks": {
            …
        }
    }
}

This tells you that to perform a POST request to the users/@me/lists endpoint (to insert a new task) you need to have been authorized with the scope https://www.googleapis.com/auth/tasks and that to be able to do a GET request to the users/@me/lists/{tasklist} endpoint you need to have been authorized with either of the two Google Tasks scopes.

You could use this to do some automatic discovery of the scopes you need to authorize to perform all the operations that your applications does.

You could also use this information to detect which operations and which endpoints you can access given a specific authorization token ( OAuth 2.0, OAuth 1.0 or Authsub token). First, use either the Authsub Token Info service or the OAuth 2.0 Token Info Service to determine which scopes your token has access to (see below); and then deduct from the feed above which endpoints and operations requires access to these scopes.

                        
[Access Token] -----(Token Info)----> [Scopes] -----(APIs Discovery)----> [Operations/API Endpoints]

Example of using the OAuth 2.0 Token Info service:

Request:

GET /oauth2/v1/tokeninfo?access_token= HTTP/1.1
Host: www.googleapis.com

Response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json; charset=UTF-8
…

{
    "issued_to": "1234567890.apps.googleusercontent.com",
    "audience": "1234567890.apps.googleusercontent.com",
    "scope": "https://www.google.com/m8/feeds/ 
              https://www.google.com/calendar/feeds/",
    "expires_in": 1038
}

There is a lot more you can do with the APIs Discovery Service so I invite you to have a deeper look at the documentation to find out more.

Nicolas Garnier profile | twitter | events Nicolas joined Google’s Developer Relations in 2008. Since then hes worked on commerce oriented products such as Google Checkout and Google Base. Currently, he is working on Google Apps with a focus on the Google Calendar API, the Google Contacts API, and the Tasks API. Before joining Google, Nicolas worked at Airbus and at the French Space Agency where he built web applications for scientific researchers.

Editors note: This post is cross-posted from the Google Developers Blog.

Mike Procopio profile Mike is a Software Engineer for Google Drive, focusing on all things Drive apps. He gets to leverage his passion for the developer and user experience by working on the next-generation APIs that help unleash Google Drive. Before joining Google in 2010, he was a machine learning researcher, and enjoys engaging in illuminating statistical discussions at every opportunity.

Weve held many Office Hours on Google+ Hangouts over the last two months, bringing together Google Apps developers from around the world along with Googlers to discuss the Apps APIs. Weve heard great feedback about these Office Hours from participants, so weve scheduled a few more in 2011.

General office hours (covering all Google Apps APIs):

• TODAY: December 8 @ 10:00am PST
• December 14 @ 1:30pm PST
• December 20 @ 12:00pm PST

Product-specific office hours:

• Google Apps Marketplace - December 12 @ 12:00pm PST

As we add more Office Hours in the new year, well post them on the events calendar, and announce them on @GoogleAppsDev and our personal Google+ profiles.

Hope you’ll hang out with us soon!

Ryan Boyd   profile | twitter | events Ryan is a Developer Advocate on the Google Apps team, helping businesses build applications integrated with Google Apps. Wearing both engineering and business development hats, youll find Ryan writing code and helping businesses get to market with integrated features.

• Link to the The Horizon Report 2008 (PDF)
• Horizon Project (2008) Wiki
• Via Stephen Downes

This time around, I am not going to make any interesting reflections regarding this report, as there are already tons of other constructive (and critical!) ones out there. Click here to discover them for yourself :)

I suppose the only buzz word that seem to gain specific interest, is the future Social Operating Systems, which seems to already be here. The problem you might face when you get a lot of professionals around to discuss the future emerging technologies, is that they get stuck in the present and past, blurring their vision to really predict the next key disruptive technologies to emerge.

However, this 32-page horizon report is something that we should eat, digest and reflect. To me, the juiciest part of this report is not what it says, but what it links us to. Interestingly, they are using the social bookmarking tool del.icio.us to easily share resources related to these six (6) key emerging trends:

Near Horizon (Less Than 1 Year)

• Grassroots Video
• Collaboration Webs

Mid Horizon (2-3 Years)

• Mobile Broadband
• Data Mashups

Far Horizon (4-5 Years)

• Collective Intelligence
• Social Operating Systems

• Link to Friedmans Keynote Address (MIT Milestone Celebration)
• More MIT Milestone Celebration Videos (2007)
• MIT World - The World is Flat Video (2005)
• Thomas Friedmans Homepage

Yeah, we know that the 19th Century belongs to Great Britain, and the 20th Century belongs to the United States, but which country will the 21st Century belong to? China, India or United States? Nope! It will probably go to Google, a dynamic region somewhere, or perhaps an individual that has not been born yet.

• The dysfunctions of conventional instruction
• The power of simulations
• The importance of game-based learning communities
• The reasons videogames promise a better learning future
• The changes necessary for the new paradigm to take hold
• The practical steps that colleges/universities and influential academics can take to move institutions down the trail blazed by USC and others.

He spoke with each of the five individually, culled their comments from several hours of recordings, and then combined the comments to simulate the continuity and interaction of a group discussion. He has also asserted some editorial license to eliminate the infelicities and redundancies of speech."

If you are interested in understanding the future of education in 21st century, and how game-based learning might influence it, this article or opinions by these five (5) experts, is certainly something you should read and digest !

• More than 17,000 registered students
• Some 40,000 visits per month from 120 countries

Their schools pool of teachers includes musicians like: Peter Erskine, Dave Weckl, Giovanni Hidalgo, Bill Bruford, Gregg Bissonette Ignacio Berroa, etc...considered to be the best drummers of the world.

All the experience accumulated over these last years led them to develop a new prototype of website for online education, very innovative with various tools for the students e-learning and that they would like to implement over the next months.

"Create educational games, activities and diagrams in a Flash! Host them on your own blog, website or intranet! ClassTools.net is a FREE website allowing teachers and students to create interactive Flash diagrams for learning and revising material."

Learning while having fun Playing Games!
This is an online educational game creator that you can have a lot of fun with developing interactive games, activities and diagrams on-the-fly for your students (or friends). Currently, it has around 15 different templates to play around with, but I wont be surprised if this number is increased into a triple digit soon (it also invites others to share templates with them) . ClassTools.net is a really easy-to-learn and use educational game creator, and now it even enables you to create links to your games direct from your blog or website. Although, some of the templates perhaps need a face lift, it is certainly a great start and it is free (for crying out loud!). Here is an example created by Lauren Eno (Thanks in advance for sharing!).

click here for full screen version

Have fun creating Flash-based educational games without requiring a programmer or a graphic designer :)

• DE Tools Of The Trade

WHAT?
DE Tools of the Trade is a web site by and for K-12 educators who teach partly or completely online. This simple but useful site contains a compilation of links and resources that may be useful to any online educator.

Although, its target audience is K-12 educators, its collection of online links, resources and tools can also be useful to any educator, whether he or she is in higher education, the corporate sector, or involved with any form of education.

MASTERMIND?
John Goldsmith

JUICE?
John Goldsmiths site powered by Wordpress is a great example of a humble individual going the extra mile to share his experiences and discoveries, which can surely benefit people out there who are rather new to online education, and fed up of seeing massive lists that do not filter out the juice from the garbage. As John Goldsmith says, "the site and the information it contains is not meant to be extensive or comprehensive (Source)." In other words, he has filtered out the juice from his own experience and expertise to compile a great list of online resources, which can be accessed by intuitive categories such as:

• Blogs & Wikis - This section contains information on setting up your own blog, wiki, pod/web cast and web site.
• ClipArt - This section contains link and descriptions of site with pictures and/or clipart that is available free or under a Creative Commons licence.
• Graphic Tools - This section contains downloadable and web applications for creating and editing photos, pictures, images and clip art.
• Learning Objects - This section contains a list of websites with learning objects, course content, tutorials, video clips or other resources which may be of use to an online educator.
• Survey/Polling Tools - This section contains links to websites which contain free applications and resources for setting up an online survey of poll.

Also, each compiled resource is accompanied with some concise and useful information (or metadata) about it, answering basic questions that we would like to know such as What, Where, Cost, and a short description. It might not pass the Dublin Core standard, but it is more than good enough for me.

Also, the interface design is quite pleasant, and finally I love the sites cool mascot (graphic, logo or whatever it is!). I suppose Bob the Builder would like to get his hands on this toolbox. As the site is rather new (since October if I am not mistaken!), I believe we can expect some more sparks and juice as it evolves :)

• Link to The Straight Dope
• Wikipedia - The Straight Dope & Cecil Adams

CECIL ADAMS?
"Cecil Adams is the worlds most intelligent human being. We know this because: (1) he knows everything, and (2) he is never wrong. How do we know that Cecil knows everything and is never wrong? Because he said so, and he would never lie to us ... more"

It sounds as convincing as Stone Colds famous bark (And thats the bottom line! Cause Stone Cold said so!)!

According to Wikipedia, "Cecil Adams is a name, generally assumed to be a pseudonym, which designates the unknown author or authors of The Straight Dope..."

THE STRAIGHT DOPE?
The Straight Dope is a popular question-and-answer newspaper column published in the Chicago Reader (an alternative weekly), syndicated in thirty newspapers in the United States and Canada, and available online. The column derives its name from the American idiom meaning roughly "the honest truth" and covers practically any subject. History, science, old wives tales, urban legends and inventions are among the most frequently recurring topics. The column appears under the tagline "FIGHTING IGNORANCE SINCE 1973 (ITS TAKING LONGER THAN WE THOUGHT) (Source)."

"Billed as the "Worlds Smartest Human Being", Cecil Adams responds in this popular column to often unusual inquiries with abrasive humor (often directed against the questioner), and at times exhaustive research into obscure and arcane issues, urban legends, and the like. On more than one occasion, Cecil has been forced to retract an answer or at least modify it substantially when confronted by "the teeming millions", which he does in a gentlemanly and good-humored manner, often claiming overwork and staff shortages" ...more

JUICE?
Whether he is the worlds most intelligent (or funniest) human being or not, is certainly questionable, but I believe his columns provides us with a wonderful opportunity to engage our reflective thinking and tickle our creative minds to ask questions that we often take for granted, or dont bother figuring out (Right Brain activity!). You never know, such unusual inquiries (Think-out-of-the-class!) could actually spark the next great idea, invention or innovation. Here are some of these unusual questions answered by Cecil Adams that might tickle you to explore The Straight Dope site further:

• Why are races always run in a counterclockwise direction?
• Does smoking have any health benefits?
• If Pluto is a dog, what is Goofy?
• Whats the best way to kill cockroaches?
• Why do we sleep?

Also, check out the sites active message boards and FAQs (Really funny!). Finally, if you want to ask him a question, click here!

Actually, what I really like about this resource is not Cecil Adams answers, but all the unusual and funny questions asked by people. Some of these questions (creatively adapted!) are great to loosen up the students and get them ready for more serious discussions related to the subject. Hey, why dont we ask the so called boring questions in a more creative manner. Add some spice!

Cecil Adams, if you are really the "Worlds Smartest Human Being!", I believe you should be able to discover this blog, and answer me this simple, but important question:

Why Do Monkeys Eat Bananas?