Issue #173 : Software Testing Notes
A Practical Guide for Testing AI Systems
Hello there! 👋
Welcome to the 173rd edition of Software Testing Notes, a weekly newsletter featuring must-read content on Software Testing. I hope this week has been good for you so far.
This week, we will explore:
What Not to Test When You Have Less Time
Testing AI Systems: A Practical Guide for QA Engineer
Using Cursor and ChatGPT to create a mock server and API tests
Your Guide to XPath: Query Smarter, Not Harder
Performance Testing with Playwright and Artillery
✨ Featured
500+ best hand-picked tools to supercharge your testing.
TestDevTools is a collection of 500+ hand-picked tools & resources for your every testing needs. Whether you're looking for a new Automation tool, framework alternatives, a new way to manage test data, a way to learn development or testing… We got you covered.
📚 Testing
What Not to Test When You Have Less Time by Jayateerth Katti
When you have tight deadlines, testing everything under the sun is jut not possible. But what can be done in those cases? Luckily, from his own experience Jayateerth Katti shares a great system to help you with that.
From Junior to Senior Test Engineer: The Mindset Shifts That Matter by Anthony Mcpherson
Anthony Mcpherson shares how senior engineers shift from mechanical testing to strategic quality thinking such as focusing on value, risk, collaboration, and long-term prevention over short-term detection.
🔍 Software Testing
⚙️ Automation
8 Playwright Utility Functions Every Automation Tester Should Have by Divya Kandpal
If you’ve written more than a few Playwright tests, you’ve probably duplicated the same logic over and over. Divya Kandpal shares 8 practical, reusable utility functions that make your tests cleaner and more maintainable over time.
Testing AI Systems: A Practical Guide for QA Engineer by Saurabh Srivastava
As AI becomes the norm in almost all software systems, Saurabh Srivastava thinks testing requires a fundamental shift from traditional QA practices. This article lays out a practical guide to navigating the unique challenges of testing AI.
Windows Tests Running Slow? Maybe Not for Long… by Anton Angelov
If you’ve ever done desktop automation, you have probably struggled with slow, flaky, or unreliable Windows desktop UI tests using WinAppDriver or Appium, Anton Angelov shares an alternative. NovaWindows Driver, a faster, more stable, open-source drop-in replacement for Appium’s Windows driver.
Your Guide to XPath: Query Smarter, Not Harder by Rahul Singh
I don’t know anyone who has liked XPath at first sight 😂. Rahul Singh does a great job of breaking it down how XPath actually work, from basic syntax to practical use in this hands-on guide.
From Clicks to Code: Lessons from My Automation Journey by Jeff Thoensen
Working with Playwright, Jeff Thoensen focuses on writing user-focused tests, choosing reliable locators like getByRole, and organizing test code with the Page Object Model. If you're new to Playwright or fighting flaky tests, these article offer a great advice.
Pick E2E Tests To Run Using AI Summaries by Gleb Bahmutov
How to intelligently select which tests to run when a pull request changes only a small part of the code? Gleb Bahmutov experimented with using Claude 4 to summarize what each Cypress test is actually doing and mapping it to the test coverage.
I Vibe Coded a Mock Server and API Tests — Here’s What Happened by Heemeng (Chris) Foo
With Cursor and ChatGPT, Heemeng (Chris) Foo created a mock server and API sanity tests. Read this article to learn from his experience on what to ask and where to be careful about getting unpredictable results.
Building Playwright Framework Step By Step by Ivan Davidov
This post kicks off a hands-on, four-part guide to building a Playwright testing framework from scratch. Ivan Davidov does a great job of explaining not just the "how," but also the "why" behind test automation. If you are new to Playwright, this series offers a thoughtful and practical guide.
Speed Up Tests: Cross-Platform Automation Testing Using Robot Framework With Selenium and Appium
Using a real-world example from a fintech platform, the article breaks down how Robot Framework scripts are structured, from defining element locators to writing reusable keywords for login tests on both web and Android.
🔍 Test Automation
💨 Performance
Embrace the Chaos Testing: Survival Guide To System Failures by Yusuf Aşık bugnificentt
Chaos testing (or chaos engineering) is the proactive practice of injecting controlled failures into systems to uncover hidden weaknesses and improve resilience.
In this article, Yusuf Aşık breaks down key principles of chaos engineering, failure scenarios, automation techniques, and best practices with practical examples of API timeout, Slow Internet Connection, Unexpected Service Unavailability, JavaScript Crash, Latency Simulation and more…
Brewing Quality at Scale: Performance Testing with Playwright and Artillery by Arthur Tee Seng Tuan
What a perfect analogy between brewing coffee under rush-hour pressure and software performance under heavy load. Arthur explains how to extend existing Playwright end-to-end tests with Artillery to simulate realistic traffic patterns without duplicating test scripts.
What I Learned After Running 40+ Load Tests as a Performance Tester by Utkarsh srivastava
Utkarsh srivastava shares practical insights on everything from dynamic test data, monitoring, smarter scaling and effective reporting.
🔍 Performance Testing
🛠️ Resources & Tools
time.fyi — A suite of web-based time-related tools that includes timezone conversion, a Pomodoro timer, a daily planner, a world clock, general time, and a stopwatch.
Templates by Paul — A small collection of free Google Docs templates for general use and productivity, covering things like project tracking, problem solving, 1:1s, and lots more.
iPerf — test maximum achievable bandwidth on IP networks.
📝 List of Software Testers
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🎁 Bonus Content
📌 OTHER INTERESTING STUFF
⭐ LAST WEEK'S MOST READ
Tips to Become a Successful QA Engineer (From Someone Who’s Been There) by Charukshi Wijesinghe
Why do so few people really understand software testing strategy? by Cri (Críona) Quentin
😂 And Finally,
In the mind of a SOLO tester 🤣
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Thanks to everyone for subscribing and reading!
Happy Testing!
Pritesh(@priteshusdadiya)