Pop Quiz: Software Testing
Pop quizzes are a fun way to discover knowledge gaps. I'm experimenting with this format to distill my software engineering experience and hopefully provide something both informative and entertaining! While AI code generation tools are now accessible to everyone, experienced engineers maintain a critical advantage: they know how to direct AI to write testable code and verify it properly. Here's a pop quiz on software testing to evaluate your engineering acumen: Question 1: Why do applications with global state present challenges for testing? (Hint: Think about test isolation and predictability.) Question 2: What is a "flaky test" and what are the most common factors that cause this testing challenge? (Hint: It's about inconsistent results.) Question 3: Your test suite shows all green, yet users still encounter critical bugs in production. What are the most common testing blind spots? (Hint: Are your tests seeing the whole picture and validating it thoroughly enou...