(Editor’s note: This blog is contributed by my son Hank – a programmer by profession.  It’s the second of three in a carnival organized by John Hunter.  -Mark)

Justin Hunter is the founder of Hexawise, a SaaS tool that aids in setting up tests for software using statistical methods. This also happens to be the subject of his blog – no doubt influenced in part by his father, William Hunter, author of the classic text Statistics for Experimenters.  Justin started the blog mid-way through ’09, so the pickings are a little slim, but there is still plenty of good stuff.

Some highlights from 2009:

• 10/6 The Stackoverflow.com for Software Testers marks the release of a beta version of testing.stackexchange.com.  This is a community driven Q and A site that uses the same technology as Stack Overflow, a popular site for coders looking for help.  Hunter’s version is aimed at testers, and already has an impressive database of answers and discussion.
• 8/25 What Else Can Software Development and Testing Learn from Manufacturing? Don’t Forget Design of Experiments (DoE) links to a Tony Baer post comparing software development to the manufacturing industry. Hunter further focuses on the application of Design of Experiments, pointing out the extensive use of DoE in quality improvement initiatives in Toyota and Six Sigma.  These initiatives have yet to really penetrate the software development industry, despite some high profile successes (Google’s Website Optimizer and Youtube are mentioned).
• 12/9 Defect Seen >10 Million Times and Still not Corrected has some interesting trivia about the grammatical error in Lands’ End – something I hadn’t even noticed, and apparently the company hadn’t either until it was too late.  The real point of the post, however, is to point out another much more fixable grammatical error in Google’s Blogger software.  If there is only 1 comment on a post, it still says “1 comments”, instead of dropping the s.  A trivial defect, perhaps, but a very visible and easily fixed one.  It reminds me of something Mark always says about taking a break from work to sweep the dirt off the shop floor.  That is, you shouldn’t let the little inconsequential bugs pile up while you’re focused on the big ones.

On a lighter note, in Famous Quotes that Make Just as Much Sense When You Substitute PowerPoint for Power Justin linked to a post by Jerry Brito about substituting PowerPoint for Power in famous quotes, adding a few of his own.  I’d also like to add:

Kirk: “Spock, where the hell’s the PowerPoint you promised?”
Spock: “One damn minute, Admiral.” –Star Trek IV