Testing frameworks

There is a new Java testing framework, TestNG, that is slowly replacing JUnit. I'm appalled at how out of touch I am with development work these days. I barely have the time to pick up JUnit as it is, and now developers are talking about how this new framework does not have the weaknesses of JUnit that I did not even think about? I have not used it often enough to notice the weaknesses much. I don't even know what JDK1.5 is all about, when we are still using JDK1.4 officially and really using just the feature of JDK1.2. Pathetic.

I seldom have the chance to get my hands dirty doing development work right now. My work consist of managing a few programmers and gathering the requirements, managing the versions, testing, answering emails, doing migrations. Unit testing is something I am not intimately acquainted with, though I need to know enough to guide my programmers. Therein lies the problem - how do you lead if you don't know? When I first joined the company, I was miffed by how little our managers really knew about Java, though that is the language we use, how unwilling they were to learn new things and try promising new tools and techniques that can potentially ease our burden. I find myself becoming more like them with the passing of time.

It takes something uncommon to go against the path of least resistance and to do a better job than is common. The uncommon had always been more interesting, and holds the possibility for improving on what we have. To be common had never appealed much to me, except those times when being accepted was more important to me than pursuing my dreams.

To be able to spend time doing hands-on development work and be paid for it will be wonderful therapy for me and will ease some of the troubles on my mind. To be paid the same rate as what I am now will be like a dream job to me.

Anyway, I really need to read up on what TestNG is all about and the weaknesses of JUnit that I did not really have the time to find out. I won't understand everything, but it is a jumpstart.
TestNG: Catch the Testing Fever
Test Framework Comparison
New features of JDK5
Under the Hood of J2EE Clustering