Showing posts with label software quality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label software quality. Show all posts

Software Testing Review

Software Testing
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Software Testing ReviewOuch -- I see the previous review was pretty harsh and terse. Having written a book myself (also for SAMS, coincidentally), I know that doesn't feel good or help much.
Anyway, I came to amazon today specifically to order this book after I perused it at the bookstore for a while this weekend. I wasn't going to buy it, but then it sank in and I decided I should.
My QA bible is Robert V. Binder's massive tome "Testing Object-Oriented Systems: Models, Patterns, and Tools." That book is the best book out there for hard core software QA engineers. But it's not for everyone. It's huge, it's somewhat inaccessible (even though Bob Binder might not want it to be), and it's more than many people need.
The reason I am buying Ron Patton's book today is that it's relatively short, it covers all the basics in good, solid detail, and it nicely summarizes some of the same stuff you find in Binder. No, Ron Patton's book doesn't include a UML reference or a full blow out of state machines and combinatorial models, but should every QA book do that? I don't think so.
This book has some good stuff and I will use it and recommend it to try to make some things more accessible to new people joining my team and to managers and QA engineers in other departments who aren't ready or willing to digest something like Binder.Software Testing OverviewSoftware Testing is the book for new or aspiring software testers interested in learning about this crucial part of the software development process. The complexity and size of today's software makes writing bug-free code extremely difficult, even for highly experienced programmers. Couple that with our increasing reliance on software for performing everyday tasks and its pervasiveness in the medical, telecommunications, manufacturing, and financial industries, and a software bug can spell disaster. Quality software can't be created with an ad- hoc, part-time, bug hunt. It requires a methodical and disciplined approach to preventing, finding, and reporting bugs. Software Testing will show you what it takes to be a successful software tester, assuring that you discover those nasty bugs before your customers do.

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Surviving the Top Ten Challenges of Software Testing: A People-Oriented Approach Review

Surviving the Top Ten Challenges of Software Testing: A People-Oriented Approach
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Surviving the Top Ten Challenges of Software Testing: A People-Oriented Approach ReviewThis is an excellent review of the biggest recurring problems of the software testing world. As I read the descriptions of each of the 10 challenges, I was astonished at how many of the pitfalls I fall into on a regular basis. Perry & Rice don't just lay out what the challenges are - they also discuss how to meet each one. Each item on the list has its own chapter with sections on the impact on testing, solutions to the challenge, impediments to implementing the solutions, and helpful guidelines to creating a plan of action. This is without a doubt an excellent book for those of us in the trenches of software testing each day. (One bit of advice, though - if you're looking for a book on "how to do software testing", look elsewhere. Perry and Rice have other good books on the subject, but this one is really intended to help you step back from your daily testing work and see where you could improve on your approach to it.)Surviving the Top Ten Challenges of Software Testing: A People-Oriented Approach OverviewSoftware testers require people-oriented skills to survive what can often be a lose-lose relationship with developers and managers. Surviving the Top Ten Challenges of Software Testing goes beyond the technical skillsets required for effective testing to address the political realities that can't be solved by technical knowledge alone.Authors Perry and Rice compile a "top ten" list of the challenges faced by testers and offer tactics for success. The challenges illustrate the way testing fits into the context of software development and how testers can manage expectations and improve communication with managers, developers, and customers. The text features a self-assessment for testing skills and an action plan for improving the testing process.Topics include training, acquiring management support, obtaining tools, communicating with customers, managing changing requirements, marketing the importance of testing, testing what's thrown over the wall, controlling the scope of testing, teaching developers to test, and handling the delicate situation of reporting defects.The Top Ten People Challenges Facing TestersChallenge #10: Getting Trained in TestingChallenge #9: Building Relationships with DevelopersChallenge #8: Testing Without ToolsChallenge #7: Explaining Testing to ManagersChallenge #6: Communicating with Customers -- And UsersChallenge #5: Making Time for TestingChallenge #4: Testing What's Thrown Over the WallChallenge #3: Hitting a Moving TargetChallenge #2: Fighting a Lose-Lose SituationChallenge #1: Having to Say No

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How We Test Software at Microsoft Review

How We Test Software at Microsoft
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How We Test Software at Microsoft ReviewGreat insight into software testing, with a nice balance of stories, process, and test techniques. I now work at Microsoft as an SDET, after many years testing and developing at other software companies, but was still was eagerly awaiting this book.
I'm fascinated by how testers learn their craft, how testing balances the pragmatic and theoretical, and how testers grow in their career. This book covered all that, as well as providing an insight into testing at Microsoft.
For software testers, or anyone interested in software development, this book joins other books I'd recommend, including A Practitioner's Guide to Software Test Design, Testing Computer Software, How to Break Software, and (for security) Hunting Security Bugs.How We Test Software at Microsoft Overview
It may surprise you to learn that Microsoft employs as many software testers as developers. Less surprising is the emphasis the company places on the testing discipline-and its role in managing quality across a diverse, 150+ product portfolio.

This book-written by three of Microsoft's most prominent test professionals-shares the best practices, tools, and systems used by the company's 9,000-strong corps of testers. Learn how your colleagues at Microsoft design and manage testing, their approach to training and career development, and what challenges they see ahead. Most important, you'll get practical insights you can apply for better results in your organization.

Discover how to:

Design effective tests and run them throughout the product lifecycle
Minimize cost and risk with functional tests, and know when to apply structural techniques
Measure code complexity to identify bugs and potential maintenance issues
Use models to generate test cases, surface unexpected application behavior, and manage risk
Know when to employ automated tests, design them for long-term use, and plug into an automation infrastructure
Review the hallmarks of great testers-and the tools they use to run tests, probe systems, and track progress efficiently
Explore the challenges of testing services vs. shrink-wrapped software


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Software Conflict 2.0: The Art and Science of Software Engineering Review

Software Conflict 2.0: The Art and Science of Software Engineering
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Software Conflict 2.0: The Art and Science of Software Engineering ReviewThis Bob Glass book is a real "closet classic" of software literature, and one that deserves to be back in print. Originally published in 1990 or so, it's composed of technology-agnostic essays that cut right to the heart of development concerns. As with so many other classic programming books (Brooks' "Mythical Man-Month", Yourdon's "Death March", Weinberg's "Understanding the Professional Programmer", and McConnell's "After the Gold Rush" all leap to mind) the insights it contains remain relevant years after original publication. An added bonus is that this revised edition not only contains all the original material, but adds the author's retrospective opinions to each group of essays.
While most developers stick blindly to purely technical reading (if they do any outside reading at all), books like this are where the real thought-provoking ideas are. Covering topics like the benefits of reuse, the link between quality and maintenance, various flavors of project management, and more (there are a total of 60 short essays in the book), there is more than enough food for thought here for any software pro.
If you only do technology-specific reading, you owe it to yourself and your career to broaden your perspective. This is a great book for that. And if you already read general interest software books, don't miss this one. Great stuff.Software Conflict 2.0: The Art and Science of Software Engineering OverviewSoftware Conflict 2.0: The Art and Science of Software Engineering updates and expands a neglected classic in the field. The nearly 60 essays in this book--always easily digestible, often profound, and never too serious--are the work of pioneer Robert L. Glass, 50 year software veteran, and author or editor of more than 25 books, including the recent bestseller Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering.As loyal Glass readers have come to expect, Software Conflict 2.0 takes up large themes and important questions, never shying away from controversy. Robert Glass has a unique perspective, owing partly to his longevity in the field, partly to his breadth and depth of experience as a practitioner, and partly to his experiences on multiple continents crossing back and forth between the worlds of the university and the professional programming shop.No matter what unique corner of the software engineering world you call home--be it aerospace or e-commerce--whether you are a researcher, hardcore coder, consultant, or manager, Software Conflict 2.0 tackles questions and conflicts that you will recognize. Bob Glass's wide and deep perspective on the art and science of software engineering will widen and deepen your own perspective.Pragmatic Programmer Andy Hunt writes in his Foreword to this book, "Eleventh-century philosopher Pierre Abelard taught that, 'The beginning of wisdom is found in doubting; by doubting we come to the question, and by seeking we may come upon the truth.' Welcome to Bob's essays on software conflict. Here you'll find the seeds of doubt, some underlying questions, and a fellow seeker." We couldn't agree more.The first edition of Software Conflict was published circa 1990 and, until now, has been out of print for some time. Why? Mainly because thats the normal pattern for software books: a new book is hot when it hits the streets, but then trends change, paradigms shift, and eventually the publisher stops placing orders with the printer. As hundreds of new books are published every year, a real treasure can be buried in the shifting sands.Sometimes the significance of a software book transcends the endless cycle of trends and revolutions. In fact, some of the great software books continue to be discussed even decades after their original publication. Why do people keep reading these "dated" software engineering books?Because the insights of these great books are timeless, as valid today as they were yesterday. Because these insights help us become better software professionals, better researchers, better managers. And because the writings of a computing pioneer like Robert L. Glass might just reveal something about where we are today and where were headed.Software Conflict 2.0 features six new essays by Robert Glass and a new Foreword by Andrew Hunt of the Pragmatic Programmers.

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The Art of Software Testing Review

The Art of Software Testing
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The Art of Software Testing Review......... this is probably not the first book that you would buy about software testing.
However, the book is a classic and it deserves a place on a serious tester's bookshelf.
Its examples are dated, I think its description of cause-effect graphing is incomprehensible, and its catalog of test types in the pages from 103 forward is sketchy.
The book is valuable because its presentation of the basic issues is clear, concise, and persuasive. The discussion of equivalence classes and boundaries is remarkably clear. When we wrote Testing Computer Software, one of our goals was to handle this important topic as clearly and crisply as Myers. That was a challenge, and I'm not sure we succeeded. (Jorgensen's Software Testing: A Craftsman's Approach does a great job with this topic.) The discussion of bias (one of the issues in the psychology of testing) is also well done.
In short, the first 103 pages of the book are some of the best writing in the field and have had a powerful influence on the writers who came later. Reading them in the original will often, I suspect, make subsequent presentations clearer and more meaningful.
-- Cem Kaner (senior author: Testing Computer Software)The Art of Software Testing OverviewProvides a practical rather than theoretical discussion of the purpose and nature of software testing. Emphasizes methodologies for the design of effective test cases. Comprehensively covers psychological and economic principles, managerial aspects of testing, test tools, high-order testing, code inspections, and debugging. Extensive bibliography. Programmers at all levels, and programming students, will find this reference work indispensible.

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Lessons Learned in Software Testing Review

Lessons Learned in Software Testing
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Lessons Learned in Software Testing ReviewThis book contains 293 "Lessons". Each seems to be meant for people with certain experiences and certain problems; some very broadly defined, others more tightly. So, how do I grade 293 lessons? One way would be to average them, another to pick on the worst (from my point of view). I choose to pick out the ones that hit me the hardest; the best from my point of view.
I've been a developer, a tester, a test manager, and am now a grad student studying testing with Dr. Kaner. This book was the proximate cause of the last. If I had had this book a couple of years ago, I believe I would have done a much better job as test manager, and my project would have succeeded better with our customer. This is the second best book on testing that I've ever read.
By the time I saw Lesson 31, I had already learned it the hard way. "A Requirement is a quality or condition that matters to someone who matters." It doesn't matter what the requirements document says; you ignore the opinion of someone who matters at your peril. I did.
Lesson 57: "Make your bug report an effective sales tool." My bug reports developed a pretty good reputation with most of the developers, so I quit paying as much attention to putting convincing arguments in them. Then, we got some new senior developers. I was back at square one without quite realizing how I got there. Don't do that.
Lesson 235: "Staff the testing team with diverse backgrounds." When I became test manager, I looked for people like me: computer science degree with developer experience. Well, such people don't work as testers, especially for the location and money we offered. I first hired a young woman with Army training. Later, I figured out how lucky I had been; she was one of the two best testers who worked for me. I learned a lot about my blind spots from her pointing them out to me. I'd hate to have tried to do the job without her or many of the other people very different from me (and her) that I hired.
Lesson 240 "During the interview, have the tester demonstrate the skills you're hiring for." After having a lot of bad results from traditional interviewing, we wrote a series of tests and gave the appropriate one (testing, SQL, C++, etc.) to each candidate. Afer that, we found our rate of bad hires was down sharply. We hired several people whom we would not have hired based on our traditional interview questions; almost all turned out well.
What am I learning? Lesson 17: "Studying epistemology helps you test better." I hope so; I'm studying it. Lesson 76: "Always report nonreproducible errors; they may be time bombs." I'm keeping more lists of these now. No good results yet. Lesson 266: "Learn Perl." Yep, there's more than one way to do it.
(BTW, the best book on testing I've ever read is Testing Computer Software, 2nd. Kaner, Falk, Nguyen.)Lessons Learned in Software Testing Overview

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