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What kind of test do I need for my software?

Perfect Testing in Software

Introduction

Most software companies run in that dilemma. In order to write software that works, you want to write some tests. The question for many of these companies is: what kind of tests are most efficient for my business?

Here we talk about seven common test practices in the software industry.

1. Unit Testing

Probably the most used form of testing is Unit Testing. This is easy to write and very effective in discovering bugs. If you are looking at verifying correctness, this is 100% what you need to have to test your software.

Why is it easy to write?

In most cases, Unit ...

Best way to setup a VirtualBox to avoid system crashes on a reboot

Broken Hard Drive reminds of of Broken Eggs

We now use permanent VirtualBox OSes to run part of our infrastructure.

We ran in all sorts of issues with those, but one thing for sure is that you do not want your OS hard drive to fill up because a (re)boot may not be possible after that. This is because the drive is likely to go bust if completely full.

You should, of course, have tools to let you know how filled up your hard drive is to make sure to catch such issues early. In our case, we had a Jira instance that filled up the drive mainly because we made one backup of the database per day. One day, one of those backup ended that ...

3 Efficient Ways to Store Data Long Term

Safe Backups The digital landscape is changing every day. That means that businesses, organizations, and personal information need constant care and attention to maintain their safety, especially if it's data that needs to be kept an eye on for a long time. From being reliable, affordable, and as secure as possible, it's critical that it remains in the right hands.

This is why we've compiled a list of 3 efficient ways to store data long-term, including using off-site cloud storage plus taking advantage of SQL Server Data Tools. Ready to give your info the safety it deserves? Read on…

Metaprogramming in C++ to create functions that depend on their input parameters

I've been using metaprogramming for a while now. An interesting aspect to the ability to define an invalid (unavailable) type, allows you to declare functions that do not get selected by the C++ template system.

The following is a simple example where you want to test a version where the major, minor and patch version numbers are defined as an undefined type T which could be a signed or an unsigned type while compiling. If unsigned, the return value < 0; statement will generate a warning and for safer programming, you should not allow any warnings (we use the -Werror command line ...

Top 6 Benefits of Hotel Management Software

Technology is ever-changing, and it brings huge operational benefits to all industries, including hospitality. However, not every business has the time, energy, funds, and resources to constantly invest in the latest technological breakthroughs.

That being said, there are a few simple and cost-effective operational aids that are easy to setup and make running a hospitality business that much easier, like hotel management software.

Not sure if you need new software for your hotel? Keep reading to learn how digital hotel management solutions improve efficiency.

Six Tips on How Hotel Software Can Help You

1. Accurate Reports

Hotel ...

5 Simple Ways to Make Your Business More Efficient

There's nothing more frustrating in business than waste. The opportunity cost of your workforce devoting hours to unproductive tasks is something you can't ignore.

So, to help you reduce waste and improve productivity, here are 5 simple ways to help make your business more efficient.

Replace your old mechanism with seemless computer software!

1. Get Software to Manage Your Deliveries

Getting your product delivered to your client is the most important part of your business, but if you don't manage your delivery system carefully, it can also be the most expensive.

Installing job scheduling software allows you to ensure your delivery ...

3 Types of Software Every Business Needs

Are you struggling to stay on top of everything in your business? 

You don't need to handle everything all alone — there's software specifically designed to help your business thrive without you having to put in more hours. The right software will save you time by keeping everything organized and ready to go. 

Learn about the 3 types of software to keep your business running as it should while you focus on more important things. 

Accounting Forms (1099, W2, etc.) with a pocket calculator

What Type of Business Do You Have?

As we go through each type, understand that the software your business needs depends mainly ...

What is the Significance of Tiny PCBs?

A PCB board with drawings of the wires

It’s a common refrain that our electronics are always getting smaller. While there may be some up-and-down fluctuation between one phone release and the next, the broader trend is clear: From speakers, to laptops, to home appliances, we can pack a lot more power into a lot less space these days.

This trend leads to some near-fantastical speculation about where tech can go from here. For instance, Quartz posted about limits in processing power back in 2017, and speculated that light could be built into processing chips as a substitute for what we’d now think ...

Don't Repeat Yourself When Writing Software

Nature tends to repeat itself, or reproduce with similar structure, but code should not.

For a very long time now, we have been using languages that support having functions that one can call. That was not always the case, although even really old versions of BASIC had a GOSUB instruction, which it had no concept of local variables so it was rather difficult to use safely.

Functions allow you to avoid repetition. You write a small snippet of code (or maybe not that small) within a function and then you call that function to reuse that snippet over and over again. Good programmers tend to do that even with one liners. However, many others often think: well, it's just one line, why don't I return copy & paste that wherever I need it, it's going to be faster.

Docker, an advanced chroot utility

Chasm—just like a Docker creates a chasm between two sets of software

SECURITY WARNING

Before installing Docker and containers with services on your Linux system, make sure to read and understand the risks as mentioned on this Docker and iptables page. Especially, Docker will make all your containers visible to the entire world through your Internet connection. This is great if you want to indeed share that service with the rest of the world, it's very dangerous if you are working on that container service since it could have security issues that need patching and such. Docker documents a way to prevent that behavior by adding the following rule to your firewall:

iptables -I DOCKER-USER -i eth0 ! -s 192.168.1.0/24 -j DROP

This means that unless the IP address matches 192.168.1.0/24, the access is refused. The `eth0` interface name should be replaced with the interface name you use as the external ethernet connection. During development, you should always have such a rule.

That has not worked at all for me because my local network includes many other computers on my LAN and this rule blocks them all. So really not a useful idea.

Instead, I created my own entries based on some other characteristics. That includes the following lines in my firewall file:

*filter
:DOCKER-USER - [0:0]

-A DOCKER-USER -j early_forward
-A DOCKER-USER -i eno1 -p tcp -m conntrack --ctorigdstport 80 --ctdir ORIGINAL -j DROP
-A DOCKER-USER -i eno1 -p tcp -m conntrack --ctorigdstport 8080 --ctdir ORIGINAL -j DROP
-A DOCKER-USER -i eno1 -p tcp -m conntrack --ctorigdstport 8081 --ctdir ORIGINAL -j DROP

My early_forward allows my LAN to continue to work. These are my firewall rules that allow my LAN computers to have their traffic forwarded as expected.

Then I have three rules that block port 80, 8080, and 8081 from Docker.

Docker will add new rules that will appear after (albeit not within the DOCKER-USER list) and will open ports for whatever necessary service you install in your Dockers.

Note that the only ports you have to block are ports that Docker will share and that you have otherwise open on your main server. If Docker opens port 5000 and your firewall does not allow connections to port 5000 from the outside, then you're already safe. On my end I have Apache running so as a result I block quite usual HTTP ports from Docker.

Docker

As we are helping various customers, we encounter new technologies.

In the old days, we used chroot to create a separate environment where you could have your own installation and prevent the software from within that environment access to everything on your computer. This is particularly useful for publicly facing services liek Apache, Bind, etc.