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Getting Started with Apache Spark (Scala Cookbook recipe)

Note: This Apache Spark blog post initially appeared here on my alvinalexander.com website.

This is an excerpt from the Scala Cookbook, 2nd Edition. This is Recipe 20.1, Getting Started with Apache Spark.

Scala Problem

You’ve never used Spark before, and want to get started with it.

Solution

When you use Spark professionally, your data will probably be spread across multiple computers — maybe thousands of computers — but to get started with Spark you can do all of your work on one computer system in “local mode.” The easiest way to do this is to start the Spark shell, create an array, and go from there.

Automated GUI Testing (AGT) software, version 0.1.0

As a brief note today, I just finished writing the first draft of my Automated GUI Testing (AGT) software with Scala 3 today. Really this is Version 0.1.0, but I just added some basic image recognition methods into it last night, and that was the final piece of what it needed to go live.

Best practices of Automated GUI testing tools

Introduction: I first wrote this article about automated GUI testing many years ago, but I find that it still holds today. Also, I first published this article here on the alvinalexander.com website.

Automated GUI testing tools FAQ: I've read that you've done a lot of work with automated GUI testing tools, can you share some "lessons learned" about your automated GUI testing tools experience?

I'll come back and update this article from time to time as I run into more "lessons learned", but after writing my last article (Seven benefits of automated GUI testing), I also wanted to share these ideas on "Automated GUI testing best practices."

Seven benefits of automated GUI testing

Introduction: I first wrote this article about automated GUI testing many years ago, but I find that it still holds today. Also, I first published this article here on the alvinalexander.com website.

I just wrote most of the following note on the Apple Mac Java-dev mailing list, and I'd like to share it here as well, because I think it captures my thoughts on the benefits of automated GUI testing and GUI testing software.

I ran automated GUI tests part-time (4-6 hours per week) on a project with 8-12 developers, and saw some good benefits. True, in the 80/20 rule, 80% of the problems were due to UI changes and communication, like “We forgot to tell you we split the Name field into First Name and Last Name,” but with a good automated GUI testing tool, one test may fail, but the rest of the automated GUI test suite keeps running (see Fowler’s continuous integration). Furthermore, with a good GUI testing tool, something like this is also a minor change to get the test running again.

Business Analyst/Product Owner: How to write accurate software requirements

This blog post was originally posted here on the alvinalexander.com website.

When you’re working as a business analyst, the words you write are what you get paid for. Just like the author of a book, when you write software requirements, you shouldn’t be loose with the words you write.

Business Analyst: A simple secret to running a great meeting

This blog post was originally posted here on the alvinalexander.com website.

As a consultant, you're expected to run a professional business meeting. In the few minutes before a meeting starts you can be as nice as you want, ask your client how his kids are doing and so on, but once the meeting starts it should be as quick and efficient as possible.

The “secret” to making a meeting snappy is very simple:

One thing a business analyst should ask about any requirement

This blog post was originally posted here on the alvinalexander.com website.

As a business analyst — or any person interested in writing software requirements and quality — there is one thing you should always ask yourself whenever you write a business requirement:

Is this software requirement testable?

I’ve seen some business analysts write some crazy things and call them requirements, but IMHO, if you can’t test it, it’s not a requirement.

Business Analysts/Product Owners and Use Case quality: Questions to ask yourself when writing a Use Case

This blog post was originally posted here on the alvinalexander.com website.

I was just updating my Example UML Use Case diagram article and it occurred to me that if you're a Business Analyst, there are a couple of questions you can ask yourself as you write a Use Case (or User Story) that will help improve the quality of your writing.

The three things a Business Analyst/Product Owner should think about during meetings

This blog post was originally posted here on the alvinalexander.com website.

When it comes to working as a business analyst, I’ve learned that there are just three things you need to keep in your mind when meeting with your customers (the project sponsor (gold owner) and domain experts (“goal donors”)) to gather requirements. These three thoughts will keep your meeting on track, lead you to the next question, and will help you know when your work is done.

Testing web applications Selenium with Scala 3 and ScalaTest

I needed to test a web application recently, so I started using Selenium again. This time I decided to use Selenium with Scala, and Scala 3 and ScalaTest in particular.

Because Scala can generally use Java libraries very easily, this was a quick and easy setup. I just configured sbt as usual, and then started creating my Selenium tests with Scala 3 and ScalaTest.

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