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While the scalability of an application is mostly determined by the way in which the code is written, the framework / platform that is being used can significantly influence the amount of effort required to produce an application that scales gracefully to many cores (scale up) and many machines (scale out).If by saying that “.Net is not very scalable” you mean that the run-time is inefficient at scale or that the framework is not developer friendly when it comes to building scalable applications, then I believe that you got it all backwards.Before joining Microsoft, I was part of a team that built a distributed, mission critical Command and Control system using .NET technologies (almost exclusively). The applications that make up the system are deployed on powerful servers, they are all stateful, massively concurrent, with strict throughput requirements. We were able to build a quality, maintainable, production ready system in less than 3 years (which is a record time for such system).While working for Microsoft in the past 6 years, I worked on hyper scale services deployed on thousands of machines, all of which have been written using .NET tech. In most cases, unless there’s a good reason, .NET is used for the front ends (ASP.NET MVC), mid-tier and backend services.Here’s how .NET empowers applications that need to scale up and scale out.Scale up:Building a reliable, high performance application that scales gracefully to many core hardware is hard to do. One of the challenges associated with scalability is finding the most efficient way to control the concurrency of the application. Practically, we need to figure out a way to divide the work and distribute it among the threads such that we put the maximum amount of cores to work. Another challenge that many developers struggle with is synchronizing access to shared mutable state (to avoid data corruption, race conditions and the like) while minimizing contentions between the threads.Concurrency ControlTake the below concurrency/throughput analysis for example, note how throughput peaks at concurrency level of 20 (threads) and degrades when concurrency level exceeds 25.​So how can a framework help you maximize throughput and improve the scalability characteristic of your application?It can make concurrency control dead simple. It can include tools that allow you to visualize, debug and reason about your concurrent code. It can have first-class language support for writing asynchronous code​. It can include best in class synchronization and coordination primitives and collections.In the past 13 years I’ve been following the incremental progress that the developer division made in this space - it has been a fantastic journey.In the first .NET version the managed Thread Pool was introduced to provide a convenient way to run asynchronous work. The Thread Pool optimizes the creation and destruction of threads (according to JoeDuffy, it cost ~200,000 cycles to create a thread) through the use of heuristic ‘thread injection and retirement algorithm’ that determines the optimal number of threads by looking at the machine architecture, rate of incoming work and current CPU utilization.In .NET 4.0, TPL (Task Parallel Library) was introduced. The Task Parallel Library includes many features that enable the application to scale better. It supports worker thread local pool (to reduce contentions on the global queue) with work stealing capabilities, and the support for concurrency levels tuning (setting the number of tasks that are allowed to run in parallel)In .NET 4.5 - the async-await keywords were introduced, making asynchronicity a first class language feature, using compiler magic to make code that looks synchronous run asynchronously. As a result – we get all the advantages of asynchronous programming with a fraction of the effort.Consistency / SynchronizationAlthough more and more code is now tempted to run in parallel, protecting shared mutable data from concurrent access (without killing scalability) is still a huge challenge. Some applications can get away relatively easy by sharing only immutable objects, or using lock free synchronization and coordination primitives (e.g. ConcurrentDictionary) which eliminate the need for locks almost entirely. However, in order to achieve greater scalability there’s not escape from using fine-grained locks.In an attempt to provide a solution for mutable in-memory data sharing that on one hand scales, and on the other hand easy to use and less error prone than fine grained locks – the team worked on a Software Transactional Memory support for .NET that would have ease the tension between lock granularity and concurrency. With STM, instead of using multiple locks of various kinds to synchronize access to shared objects, you simply wrap all the code that access those objects in a transaction and let the runtime execute it atomically and in isolation by doing the appropriate synchronization behind the scenes. Unfortunately, this project never materialized.As far as I know, the .NET team was the only one that even made a serious effort to make fine grand concurrency simpler to use in a non functional language.Speaking of functional languages, F# is a great choice for building massively concurrent applications. Since in F# structures are immutable by default, sharing state and avoiding locks is much easier. F# also integrates seamlessly with the .NET ecosystem, which gives you access to all the third party .NET libraries and tools (including TPL).Scale out:Say that you are building a stateless website/service that needs to scale to support millions of users: You can deploy your ASP.NET application as WebSite or Cloud Service to Microsoft Azure public cloud (and soon Microsoft Azure Stack for on premises) and run it on thousands of machines. You get automatic load balancing inside the data-center, and you can use Traffic Manager to load balance requests cross data-centers. All with very little effort.If you are building a statesful service (or combination of stateful and staeless), you can use the Azure Service Fabric, which will allow you deploy and manage hundreds or thousandof .NET applications on a cluster of machines. You can scale up or scale down your cluster easily, knowing that the applications scale according to available resources.Note that you can use the above with none .NET applications. But most of the tooling and libraries are optimized for .NET.

Techtic Solutions Inc Published full information Blog about "What is agile methodology?"A Comprehensive Guide On Agile Development ProcessImagine a day in the programmer’s life in the early days of software development. The coding itself used to consume a lot of time, as the computers in those days were slow and heavy.You had to sit in one place and complete the task. Collaboration was a difficult affair, and debugging could drain the developer completely.The Agile Manifesto: 12 PrinciplesThe guiding principlesThe main priority for any software development company using agile practices is to offer continuous delivery of the software solution to exceed customer expectations.You should say yes to changing the requirements even if it is suggested at the last minute of the development cycle.You should ideally keep sending the working software to update the client on the progress. The timelines for that should be as short as possible, ranging from weeks to months.Collaboration of the developers with the business development team is a must for better development processes and high-quality solutions.Empower individuals so that they are motivated to complete the jobs. Offer a supportive environment for better delivery.A face-to-face conversation with your development team is a must if you want to convey changes or communicate some aspect of the development.A working software that you send to the client will help measure the progress of the project, and give your client an insight into what you are developing.The development pace should be constant, which is why you need agile processes, as they offer a sustainable development environment.Your development accelerates when you promote good design and technical superiorityYou should incorporate simplicity in your development methods.If you have a self-organizing team, as in the case of agile development, you will be able to incorporate the best architecture and designs for your project.It is important to reflect on your actions, and the project to make it better and more effective.Now that you are aware of the 12 principles of agile manifesto that you need to remember, let’s take a look at the best practices you should incorporate while developing using agile methodology.Agile Best Practices#1 Practice a Test-Driven Environment#2 Constant Communication Through Daily Meetings#3 Incremental Changes IncorporatedRead Full information about How Automating Business Processes with Digital Solution Equates to Profits

Below is a list of top test automation tools for 2019.>>> On this list, I would say Ghost Inspector and Testim may be the best, because they do not require coding.1. ApplitoolsApplitools provides an end-to-end software testing platform powered by Visual AI. It can be used by people in engineering, test automation, manual testing, DevOps, and Digital Transformation teams. Applitools finds visual bugs in your apps, making sure that no visual elements are overlapping, invisible, or off page. It also makes sure that no new, unexpected elements have appeared.Key FeaturesSupports all major test automation frameworks and programming languages covering web, mobile, and desktop appsAutomatically validates the look and feel and user experience of your apps and sites.Designed to integrate with your existing tests rather than requiring you to create new tests or learn a new test automation languageBy emulating the human eye and brain, the AI-powered image comparison technology only reports differences that are perceptible to users and reliably ignores invisible rendering, size and position differencesResolves thousands of differences in minutes by leveraging sophisticated algorithms that automatically analyze the differences detected across all your tests and generate a concise report showing only distinct ones.Uses a single baseline of your app running on a reference device or browser to validate its layout on other devices and browsersIf you are developing features in feature branches and would like to push an up-to-date baseline along with your code, or if you are maintaining multiple versions of your app in parallel, baseline branching allows you to keep a separate test baseline for each branchPricingContact the vendor for pricing information.What Makes it Unique?Visual UI test reports allow you to have screenshots and visual differences that everyone in your team can understand at a glanceAllows you to collaborate with your team, exchange thoughts and provide feedback about the UI of your app directly from screenshots available in your visual UI test execution reportsAllows you to add visual assertions to your existing tests in any automation framework and programming languageAllows you to easily create multiple teams and assign full or read-only access rights to membersAllows you to choose between using the multi-tenant US-based public cloud and a private cloud dedicated just for your company with enhanced security restrictions and your own identity provider or SSO server2. CucumberCucumber is a tool that supports Behavior-Driven Development (BDD). It reads executable specifications written in plain text and validates that the software does what those specifications say. The specifications consists of multiple examples or scenarios. Each scenario is a list of steps written in Gherkin for Cucumber to work through. Cucumber verifies that the software conforms with the specification and generates a report indicating success or failure for each scenario.In this post, you can learn how to use Cucumber as a part of your Behavior Driven Development Strategy and find more resources.Key FeaturesSupports other languages as well beyond Ruby like Java, JavaScript and KotlinAllows scripting, abstraction and component reuse on several levels, allowing both technical and non-technical users to efficiently describe specifications and testsIntegrated with all the most popular web testing librariesFiles are plain-text, which makes it very simple to edit them but does not allow any clever formattingSupports writing specifications in about 40 spoken languages, making it easy for teams outside of English-speaking territories or those working on internationally targeted softwarePricingFree/Open sourceWhat Makes it Unique?Allows the test step definition to be written without knowledge of any code, allowing the involvement of non-programmers as wellServes the purpose of an end-to-end testing frameworkDue to simple test script architecture, Cucumber provides code reusability3. Ghost InspectorGhost Inspector is an automated UI testing tool. The creators describe it as “scriptless” meaning that there is no need to know how to program. The interesting thing is that not only is the execution in the Cloud, but you use the tool entirely through a browser. There is no IDE or client in which to design the tests. You simply install a plugin to “record” the actions of the test case, and the rest is all on the web.It allows you to record yourself performing actions on your website within your browser, then sync them to the Ghost Inspector service and run them continuously as a regression test. You can record them on your staging server and execute them through Ghost Inspector API when your code changes—or record them on your live site and automatically run them at a set interval to continuously check for issues.In this post, we share some of our observations about this script-less automation tool, such as its main features, advantages and limitations.Key FeaturesTest recorder and code-less editorVideo and screenshot comparisonMultiple browsers and screen sizesAPI and third party integrationsAdvanced test schedulingParallel testing by defaultPricingSmall: $71/mo*Medium: $179/mo*Large: $359/mo*Enterprise: Need to contact the vendor to request pricing information**Annual PricingWhat Makes it Unique?Allows you to record and then test a particular workflow on your key websites, to ensure they are running as expected. These results can then be emailed to your team to ensure any issues are resolved quickly.Custom notifications: Get detailed email, Slack, or PagerDuty notifications when a test fails. View and compare screenshots for test results and full videos of each step executed.4. GXtestGXtest is a suite of products for functional test automation that enables users without formal programming skills to design, automate, and run functional tests over web and mobile applications developed using Genexus. GXtest allows for full regression, acceptance, integration and system testing.We may be a bit biased, as Abstracta built this tool, but if you are using GeneXus to build your software applications, testing them with GXtest is a must. The latest version of GXtest allows you to catch bugs earlier and reduce cycle times by running tests automatically in your pipeline, achieving CI/CD. GXtest allows you to easily test different components of your app from batch processes to user interfaces.Key FeaturesDebug your tests in IDE and maximize code coverage with Unit, Component, Integration (SIT) and User Acceptance Testing (UAT).UI tests run on top of the WebDriver protocol, which means that you can provision your browsers on-premises (with Selenium) or use popular cloud testing platforms.Tests written are part of your knowledge base which allows testing to be up-to-date with development versions.PricingContact the vendor for pricing information.What Makes it Unique?GXtest is the only test automation tool created specifically to test GeneXus applicationsUse GeneXus IDE to automatically create tests based on your model. Find bugs quickly and share your test assets in GXServer.All tests are designed to run unattended over any Continuous Integration server like JenkinsGather real evidence of what was actually tested in each production stage of your application5. Katalon StudioKatalon Studio is a test automation solution that leverages Selenium’s core engine. Although it uses much of Selenium’s functionality, it’s not simply a Selenium wrapper. This post offers a detailed comparison of Katalon and Selenium-based open-source frameworks, focusing on key features such as target users, deployment, test management and scripting language support, performance, usability, and integration with other tools.Key FeaturesProvides project templates for organizing test cases, object repositories and keywordsFully supports Web, Android, iOS applications, and API testing on all operating systemsEasy to integrate with Jenkins, Git, JIRA and qTest with native pluginsRecord actions on Web and mobile apps to generate scripts with hundreds of built-in keywordsEasily build advanced scripts with IDE or customize steps with our tabular interface.Useful built-in object spy, code completion, in-context reference, and refactoring capabilities make scripting more enjoyableRun and debug test cases or test suites using multiple configurations and datasets.Run tests at any step on multiple browsers and devices, locally or with cloud services.CLI and command line generator enable CI/CD and DevOps practices.Customizable post-execution workflow to notify, submit bugs and process execution resultsReady-made dashboards, metrics, and execution coverage to improve automation strategiesPricingFreeWhat Makes it Unique?Automatically update all associated test cases and test suites when test objects are changedImport external libraries to improve the automation functions beyond Selenium and Appium limitsEasy management and maintenance of tests, data, and keywords6. mablA member of the newer generation of test automation tools, mablharnesses AI and machine learning for scriptless cross-browser testing, auto-healing tests, visual testing, and diagnostics all in one solution. Mabl wants to assist testing in DevOps by allowing you to test every release at scale with no infrastructure to manage. To create tests you simply Download and install the mabl Chrome extension to record tests for your user journeys without any scripting. You can create your tests once and run them anywhere (on multiple browsers and environments) and schedule them out. Throughout, its machine-learning algorithms improve test execution and defect detection. You get to see the results of each test in a report with screenshots, logs, and visual changes.This tool also helps you overcome the challenges that many users of Selenium face with brittle element indicators, thus making its tests more robust and less time intensive to create and maintain. According to Joe Colantonio, “Mabl takes a different approach in that it has a smarter way of referring to front-end elements in your test automation.”Key FeaturesEasy set up: With mabl, creating robust automated tests is code-less and script-less, with testing infrastructure fully managed in the cloudAuto-healing: The auto-healing aspect adapts to UI changes without intervention resulting in no more flaky testsComprehensive test output: Get all the information you need and easily share between testers and developersVisual application testing for catching any unexpected changes in your application UIPerformance regression testing: mabl tracks the perceived speed index for every step of every test so you know when there are performance regressionsCross browser testing: The only SaaS service with native support for Chrome, Firefox, IE, and Safari. All without leveraging any 3rd party test-cloud beyond mablData driven testing: Load external data into your tests to run multiple test cases in one planAll test permutations run in parallel, so executing every test case takes only as long as one testFully managed and secure: mabl includes security measures backed by Google, Stripe, and Auth0Several integrations including Jenkins, Jira, Slack, Bamboo, Azure DevOps, and WebhooksPricingmabl offers three pricing plans depending on your needs from startup to enterpriseWhat Makes it Unique?mabl also provides what they call “insights” which are behaviors in your application that Mabl flags as an area of interest that might be important for a devs and testers to investigate. These insights help make it easier to troubleshoot any failing tests.mabl uses an analysis pipeline to analyze your application behavior over time. With all the data it collects, the AI can improve your tests for the future.7. RanorexRanorex Studio empowers testers with a complete toolset for end-to-end testing of desktop, web and mobile applications in a single license. Automate tests on a Windows desktop, and then execute them locally or remotely, on real iOS or Android mobile devices or on simulators/emulators. Run tests in parallel and accelerate cross-browser testing for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Microsoft Edge, and more.Key FeaturesRobust object identification: Analyze your AUT with Ranorex Spy, identify elements with RanoreXPath and maintain them in the object repository.Action editor and recorder: Effortlessly create test automation projects without coding.Code editor: Create flexible test automation scripts using standard programming languages.One-stop shop for test organization: Define and manage test scenarios in the test suite.Web and mobile test command center: Centrally create, configure and manage web and mobile endpoints and environments.PricingPremium Node Locked – $2,990/perpetual licensePremium Floating – $4,990/perpetual licensePremium Floating with Enterprise support – $6,490/perpetual licenseRuntime Floating – $890/perpetual licenseWhat Makes it Unique?Set up Ranorex Agents on remote machines to deploy multiple Ranorex tests for remote execution in different environments, using different system configurations and operating systemsOffers dark and light themes, for when you want to give your eyes a restAllows you to easily analyze test runs with an XML-based test run report that provides a comprehensive overview of the entire test execution flow8. Selenium WebdriverPart of the Selenium Suite, Selenium WebDriver is a powerful tool to do web-based automation. It enables you to use a programming language to write test scripts in different programming languages like Java, .NET , Perl, Ruby and enables you to use conditional operations, looping and other programming concepts, making your test script robust. Selenium-WebDriver was developed to better support dynamic web pages where elements of a page may change without the page itself being reloaded. WebDriver’s goal is to supply a well-designed, object-oriented API that provides improved support for modern advanced web-app testing problems.Key FeaturesTest scripts can be written in any of these programming languages: Java, Python, C#, PHP, Ruby, Perl & .NetTests can be carried out in any of these OS: Windows, Mac, or LinuxTests can be carried out using any browser: Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari or OperaIntegrates with tools such as TestNG & JUnit for managing test cases and generating reportsIntegrates with Maven, Jenkins & Docker to achieve continuous testingPricingFree/Open SourceWhat Makes it Unique?Even without technical experience, it’s possible to create test suites and validations using the recording toolCan be integrated with almost any software development toolThe Selenium community is extremely helpful and, even for beginners, there are answers available for most questions and challenges that may come up9. Sauce LabsSauce Labs allows users to run tests in the cloud on more than 800 different browser platforms, operating system and device combinations, providing a comprehensive test infrastructure for automated and manual testing of desktop and mobile applications using Selenium, Appium and JavaScript unit testing frameworks.Key FeaturesWeb functional testingCross browser testingMobile web testingJS unit testingManual testingAutomated testing platformComprehensive platform coverageReal device coveragePricingFrom $19/month for its Live Plan to $600/month for its Unlimited Automated PlanWhat Makes it Unique?The Sauce Labs creators co-developed Selenium and are a major contributor to Appium with support for the latest versions so you can easily make the switch from running tests on your in-house grid to SauceSauce Labs was the first to develop a cloud-based continuous testing platformOffers valuable and powerful cloud-based capabilities for testing mobile and web applications10. TestCompleteTestComplete by SmartBear is an automated testing environment for a wide range of application types and technologies, including (but not limited to) Windows, .NET, WPF, Visual C++, Visual Basic, Delphi, C++Builder, Java and Web applications and services. TestComplete is oriented equally to functional and unit testing. It provides superior support for daily regression testing and supports many other kinds of testing: data-driven testing, distributed testing, and others.Key FeaturesBuild automated UI tests: Use the script-less record and replay or keyword-driven tests to easily create automated UI testsObject recognition engine now with artificial intelligence: Save time creating and maintaining tests by accurately identifying dynamic UI elements with both property-based and AI-powered visual recognitionHTML5 test automation: Write one automated test script to test HTML/HTML5 web applications across all of the latest releases of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera or deprecated versions of Internet Explorer (IE)Data-driven testing: Separate data from test commands to ease maintenance effortsAutomated test reporting & analysis: Get real-time information on the progress and status of your desktop, web, or mobile UI tests from a single interfaceSelenium & TestComplete: Scale your Selenium WebDriver tests to boost your web testing efforts and build the ultimate test automation solution that has Selenium, Unit, and functional tests all in one toolKeyword-driven testing: Easily separate test steps, objects, actions, and data with a built-in keyword driven testing frameworkPricingFloating Pro Bundle: $7,000/perpetual licenseFloating Customized: $9,793/perpetual licenseWhat Makes it Unique?Quickly increase productivity with a robust test automation framework that allows you to reuse your automated UI tests across projects and environments to expand test coverage, save time, and cut costs.From initial roll-out of the tool to day-to-day support, there is a responsive team always available to help you.11. TestimTestim is an end-to-end agile testing automation solution which utilizes machine learning for test authoring, execution, and maintenance. Users can create tests in minutes, run thousands of tests in parallel across different browsers, integrate with their existing CI/CD and collaboration tools, and more.With Testim, users can create tests either by recording or by code, or utilize both in any combination. Test steps can be reused for any other tests users may be running. Thousands of parameters are analyzed for each element, with Testim weighing their overall reliability before ranking them accordingly. Tests can be run with different data sets and conditions, and full customization capabilities are offered, allowing users to run tests on different browsers, operating systems, starting URLs, and more.In this guest post, Testim.io | Agile, Self-Healing, Autonomous Testing Solution Developer Evangelist, Raj Subramanian, explains how Artificial Intelligence can enhance software testing and the tester’s role in AI-based testing.Key FeaturesAnalyzes thousands of parameters for each element, weighing their overall reliability, and ranking them accordinglyData driven testing: Run your tests with different data setsRun your tests with full customization capabilities: Browser, OS, Starting URL, etc.Visual Validation: One screenshot is worth a 1000 validations – check pixels, fonts, etc.Detailed step-by-step capture on scenario bugs: Video, automated test, step-by-step screenshotsQuick mark-ups: Easily add annotations to highlight what’s wrongEasily integrate with your bug tracker: Publish your bug as you work directly to your Jira project, or any other supported trackerGet detailed test results, achieve continuous delivery with zero setupRun in Parallel: Run thousands of tests on multiple browsers and get results in minutesRun Securely: Testim uses advanced tunnel encryption technology so you can rest assured connecting to its cloudPricingBasic – FreePro – Contact the vendorWhat Makes it Unique?Testim introduced the concept of dynamic locators instead of static IDsThe AI underneath the platform analyzes all the DOM objects of a page and extracts the objects and its properties in real time, leading to more stable tests than beforeTests can be authored without writing a single line of code and it has the flexibility for those who are familiar with code to author personal enhancements to the existing Testim functionalityCustomer support is always active and addresses any issues very quickly12. WatirWatir is an open-source (BSD) family of Ruby libraries for automating web browsers. It allows you to write tests that are easy to read and maintain. Watir drives browsers the same way people do: it clicks links, fills in forms, presses buttons, etc. Watir also checks results, such as whether expected text appears on the page. It’s a family of Ruby libraries but supports your app no matter what technology it is developed in. Whilst Watir supports only Internet Explorer on Windows, Watir-WebDriver supports Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Opera and also running in headless mode (HTMLUnit).In this post, Federico Toledo make a detailed comparison chart between Selenium and Watir to help us choose the best automation framework.Key FeaturesUses Ruby, a full-featured modern scripting language, rather than a proprietary vendor script.Supports your web app no matter what it is developed inSupports multiple browsers on different platformsPowerful and easy to use, yet lightweightWatir webdriver is built on top of the WebDriver framework which can drive the most popular frameworks, making Watir perfectly usable with multiple browsersPricingFree/Open SourceWhat Makes it Unique?Since the ruby language is highly concise, the tests created using Waitr are very easy to create & update. Thus, the long term maintenance of the test suit consumes less overhead.Ruby gives you the power to connect to databases, read data files and spreadsheets, export XML, and structure your code as reusable librariesThere’s a very active and growing community behind it