Beautiful Testing (O’Reilly, $49.99 USD), edited by Adam Goucher and Tim Riley, offers 23 essays from 27 leading technical testers and developers that illustrate the qualities and techniques that make testing an art. Through personal anecdotes, you’ll learn how each of these professionals developed beautiful ways of testing a wide range of products–valuable knowledge that you can apply to your own projects.

"Readers will be able to jump in and start using the tools and techniques right now. The book has very practical examples and extensive links where they can find additional information," says Riley (@timr50).

"In each chapter we each learned at least one thing…We both have over a decade of testing experience and have read a lot of material in that time. If we learned something in each chapter, then most readers should as well and that, to us, is the measure of a great resource book," says Goucher (@adamgoucher).

Here’s a sample of what you’ll find inside:

1. Microsoft’s Alan Page knows a lot about large-scale test automation, and shares some of his secrets on how to make it beautiful
2. Scott Barber explains why performance testing needs to be a collaborative process, rather than simply an exercise in measuring speed
3. Karen Johnson describes how her professional experience intersected her personal life while testing medical software
4. Rex Black reveals how satisfying stakeholders for 25 years is a beautiful thing
5. Mathematician John D. Cook applies a classic definition of beauty, based on complexity and unity, to testing random number generators

Advance Praise

"Any one of the insights or practical suggestions from these testing gurus would be worth the price of the book. The ideas are elegant and possibly challenging, yet are presented clearly and enthusiastically. This comprehensive, ambitious, engaging, and entertaining collection belongs on the bookshelf of every testing professional."

–Ken Doran, QA Lead, Stanford University; Chair, Silicon Valley Software Quality Association

All author royalties will be donated to the Nothing But Nets (@NothingButNets) campaign to save lives by preventing malaria, a disease that kills millions of children in Africa each year.

Follow Adam and Tim’s tweets at @BeautifulTest.

Adam Goucher has been testing software professionally for over ten years. In that time he has worked with start-ups, large multi-nationals and ones in between in both traditional and agile testing environments. A believer in the communication of ideas big and small, he writes frequently at Adam Goucher and teaches testing skills at a Toronto area technical college.

Tim Riley is the Director of Quality Assurance at Mozilla. He has tested software for 18 years including everything from spacecraft simulators, ground control systems, high security operating systems, language platforms, application servers, hosted services and open source web applications.

Note: The words with @ denotes the twitter.com (http://www.twitter.com) ID’s of the respective authors/reviewers.

Keys: testing, oreilly, software, microsoft, tech

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The free sandbox hosting program is a limited program offered as an open beta on a first come first serve basis. The beta hosting account comes with 50 MB of disk space and 50 MB of SQL Server 2008 database space. The sandbox site works with a subdomain of DiscountASP.NET. The free ASP.NET hosting sandbox supports .NET Framework 4 beta 2. This platform is only intended for testing and should not be used for production purposes. The program ends January 31, 2010.

Interested developers are welcome to sign up at http://labs.discountasp.net

Visual Studio 2010 beta 2 can be downloaded from the Microsoft site at http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010/default.mspx

About DiscountASP.NET

DiscountASP.NET is an innovative global leader in Microsoft Windows hosting, focused on providing the best value in ASP.NET hosting. A Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, DiscountASP.NET is one of the first hosting providers to offer Windows Server 2008 hosting, SQL Server 2008 hosting. Through strong word-of-mouth and their commitment to ASP.NET and SQL Server technology, DiscountASP.NET has become the choice for affordable enterprise-class ASP.NET web hosting.

For more information, visit http://www.DiscountASP.NET

Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/discountasp

All trademarks are the property of their legal owners.

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The home page prompts you to enter your twitter handle as shown in Figure 1.

As soon as you click "Analyze" button, a dashboard will be displayed as shown in Figure 2

It displays the total number of followers, total number of user following, location and bio extracted from the twitter site followed by a chart with pointers. I feel that this tool is valuable if you have time to analyze the results it provides. The site also promotes your twitter handle through a paid program.

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Windows 7 Home Basic – Rs. 5,899/-
Windows 7 Home Premium – Rs. 6,799/-
Windows 7 Home Professional – Rs. 11,199/-
Windows 7 Home Ultimate – Rs. 11,799/-

As of the writing of this article, you can’t purchase the product. Instead, you should register on the site by giving your name, email id, mobile number, city and postal code. A representative will contact shortly to assist you with the purchase process.

The above pricing is applicable only from 22nd Oct 2009 to 10th Nov 2009 subject to the discretion of Microsoft and is valid in India only. Moreover, customers who purchase Windows 7 during the promotional period will get a free Reebok wrist watch worth Rs 2599/-

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You will find more details regarding the project at http://amazedsaint.blogspot.com/2009/11/silverlight-wcf-duplex-services.html. The source code for the project is available for download at http://silverdraw.codeplex.com/

Screenshots

The creator has published an article at CodeProject which can be viewed at http://www.codeproject.com/KB/silverlight/silverdraw.aspx

Keywords: silverlight, microsoft, aspnet, anoop, codeproject

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Compiled from years of research, many interviews, and feedback from O’Reilly’s online forum, these patterns address difficult situations that programmers, administrators, and DBAs face every day. And it’s not just about financial success. This book also approaches software development as a means to personal fulfillment. Co-author Adewale Oshineye says, "Readers will be able to take charge of their careers by applying the book’s patterns to solve the problems that they frequently encounter in their jobs."

Hoover expands on this point: "I think Ward Cunningham described best why this book is important right now. He believes that there is more information about what we do than one person can absorb, and yet some people still somehow master our craft. In his foreword, Ward wrote, ‘This book is full of patterns for mastering our complex field. Mastering is more than just knowing. It is knowing in a way that lightens your load…These patterns are a welcome contribution to this progression.’"

Discover how this book can help you make the best of both your life and your career:

Burned out at work? "Nurture Your Passion" by finding a pet project to rediscover the joy of problem solving. Feeling overwhelmed by new information? Re-explore familiar territory by building something you’ve built before, then use "Retreat into Competence" to move forward again. Stuck in your learning? Seek a team of experienced and talented developers with whom you can "Be the Worst" for a while.

Advance Praise
"Brilliant stuff! Reading this book was like being in a time machine that pulled me back to those key learning moments in my career as a professional software developer and, instead of having to learn the best practices the hard way, I had a guru sitting on my shoulder guiding me every step toward master craftsmanship. I’ll certainly be recommending this book to clients. I wish I had this book 14 years ago!"
–Russ Miles, CEO, OpenCredo

Dave Hoover, Obtiva’s Chief Craftsman, enjoys developing software developers while developing software. He specializes in delivering projects for entrepreneurs.

Adewale Oshineye, an engineer at Google, has worked on projects ranging from point-of-sale systems for electrical retailers to trading systems for investment banks.

Apprenticeship Patterns
Dave Hoover, Adewale Oshineye
ISBN: 9780596518387, 166 pages,
Book Price: $29.99 USD,
Ebook Price: $23.99 USD

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Many resources exist for learning virtualization technology and the foundations of the VMware software package, including installation and simple configuration. This book provides a deeper look into practical usage. Written by experts with experience using VMware in a production environment, VMware Cookbook (O’Reilly, US $39.99) by Ryan Troy and Matthew Helmke shares tips and tricks learned through trial and error, and supplies the background you need to apply them. You’ll view VMware as part of its environment, with attention to operating systems, storage, and logical and physical network components.

"’Virtualization is the future’ is a mantra we have heard repeated for some time now. We believe it is not only the future, but also the present," says Helmke.

He continues, "More and more accounting departments, executive officers and information technology professionals are finding virtualization to be a way to lower costs, maximize the use of resources, and make their infrastructure more secure, stable, and efficient. Of the various, quality implementations we have seen, VMware is the one we feel is best suited for certain tasks and environments because of its inherent capabilities that other platforms sometimes lack or include in less easy-to-use ways. It is our expectation that not only will virtualization continue to be chosen in greater measure by organizations, but that many and perhaps most will find that VMware is the specific platform that best meets their needs."

Major topics include:

1. Installation best practices
2. Disk storage implementations and configurations
3. Logical and physical network configuration
4. Security and monitoring
5. Resource Management, using the Distributed Resource Scheduler, shares, and resource pools
6. Cloning and migrating servers
7. Configuration and fine-tuning

VMware Cookbook will ease the burden of system administrators who want more than a basic introduction to this complex and mission-critical technology.

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Bestselling author and Windows expert William Stanek provides everything you need to manage and maintain Windows 7. You’ll learn all of the features and enhancements in complete detail, along with specifics for configuring the operating system to put you in full control.

Stanek says, "Windows 7 is dramatically different from earlier versions of Windows from top to bottom…Other books [will] introduce and simplify Windows 7, or provide quick starts or step-by-step guides, or promise to teach even dummies how to use Windows 7. In this book, I don’t pretend anyone is a dummy and I don’t just teach you the steps you need to follow, I teach you how features work, why they work the way they work, and how to customize them to meet your needs." He continues: "Regardless of whether you are a beginning, power user, or seasoned professional, many of the concepts in this book will be valuable to you. And you’ll be able to apply them to your computer regardless of which edition of Windows 7 you are using."

With Windows 7: The Definitive Guide, you will learn how to squeeze every bit of power out of Windows 7 to take full advantage of its features and programs, including how to Set up, customize, and tune Windows 7—Optimize its appearance and performance, install and manage software, printers, scanners, and faxes, manage your files and data—Search your computer more efficiently, secure your data, share and collaborate, and get the most out of optional programs, master your digital media—Create media libraries, manage digital pictures and videos, make DVDs, and create movies, get connected and start networking—Set up a home or small-office network, conquer Internet Explorer, and master on-the-go networking, protect your computer—Keep your family safe while on the Internet, navigate the computer security maze, and configure Windows 7’s protection features, manage and support Windows 7 systems—Handle routine maintenance, troubleshoot problems, and configure user accounts, disks, and drives and to learn advanced tips & techniques—Manage the Windows boot environment, explore Group Policy, and much more

William Stanek has over 20 years of hands-on experience with advanced programming and development. He has written nearly 100 books.

Windows 7: The Definitive Guide
William Stanek
ISBN: 9780596800970, 990 pages,
Book Price: $59.99 USD, £38.50 GBP
Ebook Price: $47.99 USD
1-800-998-9938

Tags: windows 7, microsoft, guide, windows, william stanek

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Why learn F#? This multi-paradigm language not only offers you an enormous productivity boost through functional programming, it also lets you develop applications using your existing object-oriented and imperative programming skills. With Programming F# (O’Reilly Media, $44.99 USD), you’ll quickly discover the many advantages of Microsoft’s new language, which includes access to all the great tools and libraries of the .NET platform.

Learn how to reap the benefits of functional programming for your next project–whether it’s quantitative computing, large-scale data exploration, or even a pursuit of your own. With this comprehensive guide, F# team member Chris Smith gives you a head start on both the fundamentals and the advanced concepts of the F# language.

Smith has taken the time to write the one book that explains the F# language "from soup to nuts, without skipping important features because they weren’t finished yet." But he’s most excited by the importance of the language itself: "The most exciting thing about F# isn’t that it helps extend the reach of the .NET platform, but it also brings new developers to .NET," he says.

Smith continues, "F# is going to be an extremely important language for some people, but not everybody. Right now there are legions of C# and VB.NET developers who are happy with their language, so to them F# is just a blip on the radar. But for anybody who currently feels they are struggling against their language and fighting against the code, F# will have a huge impact."

Programming F# will help you:

1. Get a clear understanding of functional programming, and how you can use it to simplify code
2. Gain a solid understanding of the language’s core syntax, including object-oriented and imperative styles
3. Simplify concurrent and parallel programming with F# Asynchronous Workflows and the Parallel Extensions to .NET
4. Learn advanced F# concepts, such as quotations and computation expressions

Advance Praise:

"This book emphasizes simple, clear explanations of the foundational elements of F#, always with an eye on the enjoyment that comes from programming in general, and programming with F# in particular."
–Don Syme, Principal Researcher and F# Designer, Microsoft Research

Chris Smith is a Software Design Engineer on the F# team at Microsoft. Although he helped design the language, his official role is to test the product to make sure it is ready to ship. Which means he understands the details of F# better than anybody else on the team. You can read his blog at Chris Smith’s Complete Unique View.

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Among other features, the product has multiple layers of protection as listed below

1. Makes you invisible to hackers
2. Scans web downloads and warns if they’re dangerous
3. Monitors your credit bureau reports
4. Works great with any antivirus or anti-spyware

This offer is valid from 6am PST 10/13/09 to 6am PST 10/14/09 for one year (10/13/09 to 10/14/10) and is licensed for 3 systems. This offer is valid for new customers only with a limit of one request per customer.

The product is also compatible with Windows 7. So you can install it straight away after the release of Windows 7 on October 22.

Please visit http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/sum/index-b.html to place a request today.

keys – zonealarm, zone alarm pro, firewall, free, windows 7, windows

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