CST438 Learning Journal 6

This week I learned more about end-to-end system testing and how it differs from the unit testing we had been doing throughout the semester. While unit tests focus on verifying the behavior of individual components in isolation, system tests verify that the frontend, backend services, database, and messaging components all work together correctly. I implemented a Selenium system test that automated an instructor logging in, navigating to a course, creating an assignment, entering grades for students, and verifying that those grades were successfully saved. Building this test helped me understand how Selenium interacts with a real browser and how important it is to use reliable element identifiers and explicit waits to synchronize with the application's state.

I also learned that preparing reliable test data is just as important as writing the test itself. Before creating the Selenium test, I updated the seed data in both the Registrar and Gradebook applications so that the required instructor, course, section, and student enrollments existed before the test executed. Keeping the data consistent across multiple services reinforced how dependent system tests are on a predictable environment. I also encountered issues with automating HTML date inputs and learned that using JavaScript to set the value directly was more reliable than simulating keyboard input.

The reading on large-scale systems introduced concepts related to server management, containers, virtualization, serverless computing, and cloud infrastructure. I learned that containers provide lightweight isolation with faster startup times and a smaller resource footprint than virtual machines, making them well suited for modern deployments. I also reviewed concepts such as idempotency, checkpointing for batch processing, and hybrid cloud architectures. Together, the project work and reading gave me a better understanding of how testing, deployment, and infrastructure all contribute to building reliable software systems.

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