Each month dozens of readers turn to this page for the latest news on what the editors of MSDN Magazine are thinking. And we do our best to oblige with our hard-hitting yet pithy observations on the state of the world around us, the latest in XML fashions, what's coming up in the current issue, and more. Well, not this month. For a delightful change of pace, we've got some actual news to discuss in this month's Editor's Note, so let's dive right in.

This month, we've put together a special issue on testing with four feature articles on some advanced topics. Leading off, we'll explain to you the fundamentals of code coverage in .NET. Code coverage is a way to make sure that all parts of your application are tested properly—it doesn't determine that they work properly, just that they're covered by your test suite.

Following that, we discuss extreme programming—a discipline that's rapidly growing in popularity. Through the test-driven development that is the hallmark of extreme programming, you can build more reliable software ecosystems before the design gets too complex and becomes unwieldy to test.

Instrumentation is a key element of testing and monitoring an application's health, both during development and after deployment. In this month's issue, we take a look at several options you have for instrumenting your code using the .NET Framework.

Finally, we wrap up our look at testing and software quality by walking you through a test application that generates load tests for your applications, letting you see more clearly where your project is likely to fail in real-world situations.

With all of these features, the message is simple. Design your programs so that they can be properly tested. While it may be just a dream to create zero-defect software, modern development techniques can help us approach that ideal.

We're also pleased to announce the launch of a new column this month—.NET Matters. Love answers, but hate having to come up with them yourself? Curious about some of the inner workings of the .NET Framework? Stephen Toub, our own technical editor and resident .NET expert, capitalizes on our popular Q&A format to answer some of the trickiest questions about .NET, asked by real developers both inside and outside Microsoft.

As you flip through this month's issue (and we strongly encourage you to purchase it instead of just flipping through someone else's copy), you may notice that we've redesigned the first page of each feature article. It's more than just some new fonts and colors; the summary box for each article has been revamped based on valuable reader input.

We've simplified the summary boxes to make them easier to scan for information. We'll tell you the technologies used in each article. To help you make your decision on whether to read the article now or save it for later, we'll provide a bulleted list of topics that are discussed. If an article has a downloadable code project associated with it, we'll tell you how to get a hold of it. Finally, readers asked us to put information about the author at the beginning of each piece, so we've moved the bio from the end of each feature to the summary box on the first page.

All the content in MSDN Magazine is reviewed for accuracy by Microsoft experts in their particular fields. This helps us bring you accurate content with the most up-to-date information about the topics we cover. Starting this month, we're thanking these important contributors by featuring them on the Editor's Note page. Thanks for helping to make MSDN Magazine a success.

Thanks to  the following Microsoft technical experts: Jay Bazuzi, Scott Berry, Subash Bhamidipati, Karim Elias, Dave Fetterman, Cindy Gross, Eric Gunnerson, Mario Hewardt, Jesper Holmberg, Rob Howard, John Iwasz, Raja Krishnaswamy, Ronald Laeremans, Rico Mariani, Ivan Medvedev, Craig Neable, Dare Obasanjo, Matt Powell, Elliot Rapp, Geoff Schwab, Yasser Shohoud, and Jonathan Wells