Customer Reviews

The Art of Software Testing, Second Edition

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's hard to give the appropriate number of stars to this edition. On the one hand, this is one of the classics of the field, and deservedly so. In it's first edition, this may have been the first great book on testing, and there is something about the "first great book" on any topic that makes it a lasting value decades later: DeMarco on Structured Analysis, Brooks on the wicked complexity of software project management, Booch on object-oriented design, K&R on C. And so I think it goes with The Art of Software Testing. It's a short book, and full of good ideas that will stay with you.

But.

This revised edition is simply a terrible value. At the full list price, you'd be paying something like fifty cents a page...and, let me tell you, a book had better revolutionize my life for that kind of money. I'm a dedicated capitalist sell-out software developer, but this kind of pricing arouses even _my_ hacker sensibilities. Also, the value of the revision is questionable: there may be a chapter on Extreme Programming, but it seems to me that the best material in this book is still the classic text that survives from the 1st ed. So, my recommendation is that you simply _buy_ the first edition, new or used, at a fraction of the price. Then, you get nearly all of the benefit, plus the cachet of having the "classic" on your shelf. You can put it right next to "The C Programming Language" and "The Mythical Man-Month." Then, your visitors will know you're a serious software developer...and, you know what? They'll probably be right.

I also like and recommend Kaner, Falk and Nguyen, "Testing Computer Software," for a more in-depth and up-to-date treatment of testing issues.

After 25 years of influencing test professionals this classic has been updated in the second edition to reflect contemporary testing challenges. Note that this review is for ISBN 0471469122.

The first three chapters have kept their titles, but have been greatly expanded. For example, chapter 2 now includes black- and white-box testing overviews in addition to discussions on economics and testing principles. Chapter 3 now covers error types in addition to the original topics related to inspections and walkthroughs. Among the error types discussed are data reference and declaration, computation, comparison, control flow, and interface and I/O.

Test case design has been expanded, and the chapters on module and high-order testing, and debugging have been given major facelifts and much wider coverage of techniques. The most significant changes, though, are chapters 8 and 9, Extreme Testing and Internet Testing, which truly reflect the extent of this book's update for the second edition.

While the update is extensive, the part I personally liked the most is in Chapter 6, High-Order Testing. Consider these new test types, some of which were not even considered a part of testing back in 1979 when the first edition was published: facility, volume, stress, usability, security, performance, storage, configuration, compatibility/configuration/conversion, installability, reliability, recovery, serviceability, documentation, and procedure testing.

This book belongs in every serious test professional's library. I'm retiring my copy of the first edition, a book that I've used since the early 1980s, to a special place in my library reserved for classic books. This second edition will be one of my primary testing references for some time to come.

The Art of Software Testing provides the novice with the essentials for developing and implementing a comprehensive testing approach. It's also a valuable resource for those with experience. I dive into this book constantly.

The premise is simple enough: How can you write effective test cases that adequately exercise your system requirements? Myers suggests that good software testing depends on the answer. Testing what the program is supposed to do is only part of the battle. However, in my experience, this is usually where we plant our flag. This can be difficult enough, depending on the quality of the criteria. Bad or vague requirements necessarily lead to insufficient and flawed testing.

As a result negative testing, boundary testing, testing for unexpected conditions, and so forth will often go by the wayside.

In addition, testing is often presented as a gateway to production, and can be cursory as a result. The creativity and time that adequate test cases demand are simply not within project scope. This is often exacerbated by intent to pass systems without finding errors.

Myers addresses these issues as he explores test planning and creation. Hence this book really belongs on the shelves, not only of software testers, but project management as well. The methodology of requirements-based testing is not new. However the profession is growing and more sectors are discovering the need for testing their systems. Art of Software Testing is still relevant and should be promulgated.

From the pure software testing perspective I consider this to be the book to get your foundations. The first edition is a classic and this second edition brought the topics up to speed, at the time of publication. My point of view remains the same as with the first edition, though. What is of actual value is the foundations, and if you get a solid foundation then you can build up to become a great tester very quickly. For more you are better off reading other books.
The buy is way too pricey and that is the only complain I have about it.

I've been using Myers' The Art of Software Testing for 40 years as my main reference for all things testing. The 2nd Ed. is updated for strategies and methodologies for the brave new world of OO, client-server, SOA, etc. If you're an IT project manager or IT BA and you don't have this book, your bookshelf is incomplete.

This book is very interesting to learn or to progress (I have 10 years of experience in software developpement) in Art of Testing. The only tedious point is that the author are not really integrate the new principales of Test Driven Development in its book. So, I advise to read a book on this subject before or after.

Benoit, a French Programmer ;-)

I read about a dozen of books about testing, and I put this one into a reference for my workers. This is short and very robust. My highest rank.

This book is expensive, however it is well worth its price. A top 10 book for IT professionnals.

This should be the first book anyone should read about software testing. Having read it, all other books become mostly immaterial. To put it in another way, if there is ONE book you should read about software testing, then this should be the ONE.