Association for Software Testing

The Association for Software Testing, commonly referred to as the AST, is dedicated to advancing the understanding of the science and practice of software testing according to context-driven principles. AST's membership consists of scholars, students and practitioners who are interested in the advancement of the field of software testing. The group was founded in the United States in 2004 by Cem Kaner.

AST has multiple objectives including:

The AST's first conference, named "CAST" for the Conference of the Association for Software Testing, was held in Indianapolis, Indiana in 2006 and had the theme "Influencing the Practice".

The AST offers a series of online training courses in black box software testing (BBST), based on videos from Florida Institute of Technology's Center for Software Testing Education & Research (CSTER) with additional study aids and support from live instructors.

The initial set of courses enhances materials developed under a series of grants from the National Science Foundation. These materials are used in traditional university courses and in courses for practitioners, such as those offered by AST. The AST courses run 4 weeks each and focus on a single topic or test technique. AST is planning new courses by additional instructors.

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