[All Things Quality] Free Kindle Games

The Kindle, with its e-ink black-and-white display and limited processing power, isn't ideally suited to be a gaming platform.  But that's fine, since I'm not much of a gamer.

Still, simple games can be a nice diversion on occasion.  And if they are free, why not?  So when a free Kindle game becomes available, I download it.  And occasionally I play it.

Here are the games I have so far:

This is pretty much the classic PC game of mine sweeper, just using the Kindle's 5-way controller rather than a mouse.
The objective of Mine Sweeper is to find all of the mines that are hidden on the game grid. When you uncover a location on the grid, the number of mines adjacent to that location is revealed. The game ends when you have successfully identified all the mines and uncovered all the unoccupied locations - or, when you inadvertently uncover a location that contains a mine. The clock is ticking, so challenge yourself to go faster and faster with each game.
For me, it quickly gets pretty boring.

Blackjack is the one gambling game that I actually enjoy.  And the Kindle implementation is pretty well done.

The Kindle version features all of the most common aspects of the game including splits, double down, surrender and insurance, as well as multiple options for customization that allow you to play the style of Blackjack that you want to play. For example, you can configure the game to match specific structures like 'Dealer must hit soft 17' - a common rule variation in many Las Vegas casinos. 
The built-in advice feature, which you can turn on and off at any time, applies basic strategy and will recommend the best course of action to maximize your chances of winning.


If I have a few minutes to spare and I'm not reading, a few hands of Blackjack can fit in quite nicely.  And next time I plan to play for money, I'll spend some time practicing on my Kindle.

I'm not a big fan of Video Poker.  But the Kindle implementation is well done, so I would imagine it works well for those who do like the game itself.
Video Poker accurately simulates the Vegas-style video poker machine known as Jacks or Better. After making a bet, you will be dealt five cards. You select which of these five cards to hold, and redraw the rest to try to make the best poker hand possible. A hand with a pair of Jacks or better wins.
The built-in Strategy feature, which you can turn on and off at any time, will provide recommendations for how to play given the hand you were dealt, and will give you hints on how to improve if you fail to make the best move. This guidance will help you learn how to play the game, and how to maximize your payouts.
For me, there's very little strategy, and doesn't hold my interest.

This is the classic kids game.
In Dots and Boxes, you are presented with a set of dots in a 5x5 grid. One by one, each player must fill in a horizontal or vertical line between two dots. The player that completes a box by filling in the fourth side captures that box. Completing a box allows a player to immediately make another move. When all 16 boxes are claimed, the player with the most boxes wins.  
Play against Kindle at Easy, Medium or Hard difficulty levels. You can also play against another person in Pass 'n' Play mode and select whether a match requires 2, 3 or 4 wins to complete. Dots and Boxes comes with tips and instructions to help you if you get stuck, and also tracks your best scores, wins, and ties for each difficulty level. 
It didn't hold my interest, but might be fun to hand over to one of your children for a while.

Another classic puzzle game.
In Number Slide, you are presented with a set of numbered tiles on a grid. One tile is removed and the remaining tiles are scrambled. The objective is to get all the tiles into proper numeric order by moving the tiles into the one open space and sliding them around until they are back where they belong.  
Number Slide features hundreds of randomly generated game grids for you to enjoy. You can choose between a small (3x3), medium (4x4) or large (5x5) puzzle grid with larger grids being more difficult. You can also challenge yourself by trying to beat your best time on each puzzle. 
Again, I'm not a big fan of the game itself.

I do like word games.  And Every Word is pretty well done on the Kindle.

If you like word scrambles then Every Word is the game for you. Test your vocabulary as you try to find as many words from the scrambled letters in this fun and fast-paced word game. 
You are given six or seven scrambled letters with the goal of finding as many words as you can. You score points by filling out the words in each empty spot on the board using only the letters that appear at the top of the game board. Keep at it until time runs out or until you fill up the board. The more words you make, the higher your score! 
Your score is comprised of two components: first make a lot of words, second try to make the longest word possible. The best way to increase your score is to do both. Why? Because when you do, you earn the right to play a new level with a brand new set of letters. As long as you keep finding the longest word, you can move on to a new level and push your score higher and higher.
Not a bad way to spend a few free minutes.

Another good word game.  Again, the Kindle platform works well for this sort of game.

The tiles are added to your row one at a time so you'll constantly be working with a new set of letters. After you submit a word, the letters you used will be removed and new ones will be added. Increase your score by using less common letters. Create longer words and increase your score even more. 
If you don't use the letters fast enough, they'll disappear and new ones will take their place, so you'll have to decide if you want to play it safe and use short words or try to wait for more letters to form longer words.
Pretty good for using your vocabulary skills.

Note: These games were free at the time I downloaded them from Amazon.  As with all free items, you must check before you download, since they may no longer be free.


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Testing Is...


According to Google (and Google knows everything), testing is...
  • Testing is easy
  • Testing is boring
  • Testing is fun
  • Testing is not teaching
  • Testing is overrated
  • Testing is not entertainment
  • Testing is under way
  • Testing is useless
  • Testing is qualitative only if you can't count
  • Testing is back in style
  • Testing is not snake oil
  • Testing is a waste of time
  • Testing is our competence
  • Testing is expensive
  • Testing is more than code; it's a philosophy
  • Testing is changing
  • Testing is not a substitute for thinking
  • Testing is context dependent
  • Testing is an example of prevention costs
  • Testing is static execution of code
  • Testing is in progress
  • Testing is a box of many colors
  • Testing is a must
  • Testing is an excellent investment
  • Testing is not checking

Can you add to the list?


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Vacation in San Francisco

The Golden Gate Bridge
as seen from Ghirardelli Square

For our Spring vacation this year, we decided to go visit my son in San Francisco. He moved out there last summer after landing a job as a Software Engineer at a startup in the mobile security field.

We had a wonderful time visiting Tim and his girlfriend Sara.  They live in a really nice apartment complex, and have very nice roommates and neighbors.  We stayed with them for the first part of our vacation, had Easter dinner with them and their friends, then moved to a hotel in Fisherman's Wharf.

We got to do a lot of "touristy" things, but a lot of other things as well.

  • We walked over the Golden Gate Bridge.  A beautiful view of the Pacific, the Bay, Angel Island and Alcatraz.  We saw some surfers, and some sea lions, too.
  • We walked the steep climb up Telegraph Hill, then I went to the top of the Coit Tower.  Terrific view up there!
  • Tim showed us around the SOMA area, and took us to his office.  We got to meet the CEO and CTO.  Although they both look like kids (it's a very young startup), they were very polite and said nice things about Tim.  I can see why he likes working there so much - lots of energy.
  • We drove through Sausalito.  Lovely town.
  • We spent a night and day in Napa Valley.  It was interesting to see all the vineyards and the hills covered with grass, rather than covered with trees as they would be in New England.  We went to a wine tasting.  I liked them all, but my wife didn't - she prefers sweeter wines.
  • San Francisco has some terrific Food Trucks, so we had lunch at one parked City Hall Plaza.  They all have their own web sites, and Twitter accounts, and seem to have very loyal followings.  Not something I've seen before, but very good.
  • We walked over to Ghirardelli Square.  You get a free piece of chocolate just for entering a shop there - delicious!  We had a nice lunch there one day, and a terrific Ice Cream Sundae one evening.
  • We walked everywhere in Fisherman's Wharf.  Ate a the Boudin Bakery.  Saw the Sea Lions at Pier 39.  Saw the street performer painted gold.  It's a fun place.
  • We drove to the Cliff House Restaurant to see the Pacific.  
  • We took a few bus tours and saw lots of points of interest, including the building at which they filmed The Towering Inferno, the streets they used for the car chase scenes in the movie Bullit, the TransAmerica building, and many more.
  • We ate at a bunch of terrific restaurants.  San Francisco seems to have a restaurant every three feet!  One was a tiny Italian seafood restaurant.  No chicken, no beef, and no dessert - just really good seafood.
  • We drove down Lombard Street ("the crookedest street in the world")
  • And a bunch of other fun things.
We had a great time, and will definitely go back.


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Unusual Search Term?

While reviewing some site analytics for this blog, I looked through the search terms used to find us.  I saw one that I hadn't seen before:
швейцарский нож
Using Google Translate, I found that this is Russian for "Swiss Army Knife".  Interesting!

Welcome, friends from Russia!  I hope you found something interesting?



This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] You Should Check Out sqa.stackexchange.com


For a different spin on an SQA forum, check out Software Quality Assurance and Testing - Stack Exchange at http://sqa.stackexchange.com/

From their FAQ:
Software Quality Assurance and Testing - Stack Exchange is for software quality control experts, automation engineers, and software testers.
Based on the Stack Exchange platform, the site is currently in the Public Beta phase.  If this site gets a critical mass of activity, it becomes a full member of the Stack Exchange Network.  If not, it may be deleted.

It seems to be gathering some momentum, and already has some very smart people answering very good questions.  Check it out.  If you like what you see, join in!


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] WinTask DbSelect(), DbGetFieldString(), DbGetFieldNumeric()

WinTask uses the DbSelect() function to query the database and create a result set, and the DbGetFieldString() to retrieve values from that result set.

DbSelect
The DbSelect function creates the dataset by selecting the desired records in the ODBC database.
Syntax
Ret=DbSelect({SQL_selection}[,DYNASET|SNAPSHOT])

DbGetFieldString
The DbGetFieldString function retrieves the contents of any non-numeric field within the current record for the dataset in use. 
Syntax
Ret=DbGetFieldString({field_name},{string})
DbGetFieldNumeric
The DbGetFieldNumeric function retrieves the value of a numeric field (integer) within the current record for the dataset in use.
Syntax
Ret=DbGetFieldNumeric({field_name},{value})

The {SQL selection} argument of DbSelect() is not case-sensitive, but the {field name} of DbGetFieldString() and DbGetFieldNumeric() is.

Thus:
DbSelect(“select cusip from fund_desc”, SNAPSHOT)
DbGetFieldString(“CUSIP”,Var$)
You can visualize this using PL/SQL Developer.  DbSelect() accepts the same SQL statement that the SQL Window accepts.  DbGetFieldString() requires the column  name that PL/SQL Developer produces as output.

Similarly, when using Cast() as in  :
DbSelect(“select CAST(CIK as VARCHAR2(10)) from fund_desc where CIK > 10000”, SNAPSHOT)
DbGetFieldString(“CAST(CIKASVARCHAR2(10))”,Var$)
You can see the field name created as output :


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] Tools I've Been Using A Lot Lately


It's good to have lots of tools in your toolbox.  But I tend go through periods of time where I'm using a smaller set of tools a large percent of the time.

For instance, lately we've been using these tools quite a bit:


WinTask
http://www.wintask.com

We use WinTask for most of our website automation tasks, regression tests, etc.  It's very easy to use, yet amazingly powerful.


BareTail
http://www.baremetalsoft.com/baretail/index.php
Our systems tend to have fairly comprehensive logs which provide a lot of useful information for analyzing the results of tests.  BareTail makes it easy to watch several logs simultaneously, and highlight areas of interest.

BareGrep
http://www.baremetalsoft.com/baregrep/index.php
Our systems tend to have a lot of configuration files.  BareGrep makes it easy to search through them and find the desired settings.

PL/SQL Developer
http://www.allroundautomations.com/plsqldev.html
We use this for pretty much all of our analysis of database activity, for creating test data, for testing stored procedures, etc.

WinMerge
http://winmerge.org/
Often our testing involves comparing the recent output to baselines.  Sometimes the output comes from our system-under-test, sometimes the output is created during our automated tests. WinMerge makes comparison with the baseline, and analysis of the differences, very efficient.

SharePoint
http://sharepoint.microsoft.com
We keep our development and test assets (Requirements, Specs, Test Plans, Schedules, Checklists, etc) in SharePoint.

Bugzilla
http://www.bugzilla.org/
Our bug-tracking tool of choice.

MWSnap
http://www.mirekw.com/winfreeware/mwsnap.html

We're currently using MWSnap for screenshots, typically for attaching to bug reports.


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.

[All Things Quality] People In Testing Page Has A New Look!

I've changed the look of my People In Testing page.

Now, in addition to each tester's name and link to their website, I've included the title and tagline of their site. Sometimes, that can help you get the "flavor" for what their site is all about.  Sometimes not.

If you would like your site listed, drop me a note. Or if I've already listed your site, but you would like the text associated with it changed, just let me know!

And if you would like to return the favor by linking to All Things Quality from your website, I'd appreciate that, too.


Leave a comment, and let me know what you think about the new look.  Better?  Worse?  Meh?

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://strazzere.blogspot.com/.