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How We Test Software at Microsoft
 
 
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How We Test Software at Microsoft [Paperback]

Alan Page (Author), Ken Johnston (Author), Bj Rollison (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Book Description

December 10, 2008

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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Product Details

  • Paperback: 405 pages
  • Publisher: Microsoft Press; 1 edition (December 10, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0735624259
  • ISBN-13: 978-0735624252
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #456,382 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
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19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Beuacratic and vague, few examples of any real testing, April 4, 2009
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This review is from: How We Test Software at Microsoft (Paperback)
Spoiler Alert: Software is tested at Microsoft with mind-numbing bureaucracy and buzzwords.

I understand this is a "how we do testing a Microsoft" book, but I at least expected a few real code samples, unit tests, test automation scripts, or test plan samples. Instead, code samples were obviously simple functions thrown together by the author, and in-depth testing samples are nowhere to be found.

Instead, this book mostly comes off as an HR manual. MS's testing career path is documented in agonizing detail, and the author tries too hard to suck up to his bosses. Seriously, he actually tells the reader to search for Steve Balmer speeches on Live.com to become inspired.

Once they actually start talking about testing, it is incredibly vague and buzzword laden. There are a few good pieces of advice here, but nothing you won't find in a far better book.

The key question of how software is tested at MS is never really answered. For example:

1. Linux maintainers use Coverity on the Linux Kernel. Does MS use such tools on their Kernel?
2. What sort of scripting languages are used for automation testing of Office or Windows or any other MS product?
3. What sort of Unit Testing software do MS developers use? CppUnit? NUnit? The Unit testing feature in VS2008? What do some of these unit tests look like?
4. What does the typical test plan at MS look like?
5. What sort of white-box testing do developers perform? There are a few vague references to unit testing, but what about performance and coverage testing? What specific tools do they use? What do their result reports look like?

After reading this book, I'm hard pressed to answer any of these.

I would strongly advise people new to testing to avoid this book; otherwise they will be discouraged. Testing can actually be fun and interesting--this book is not.

P.S., I notice the high reviews of this book are from Microsoft employees. Conflict of interest, anyone?
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great general book on testing, December 17, 2008
This review is from: How We Test Software at Microsoft (Paperback)
Great 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.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding resource for software testers, January 29, 2009
This review is from: How We Test Software at Microsoft (Paperback)
I have been a software tester, SDET, for over ten years, and while I stay current with the industry via books and websites, I learned a long time ago that software testing books rarely reflect the real world of software testing. It is a fact that testing comes in later in a software release cycle, and more often then not, well after the decision making. We start out at the wrong end of the problem, so to speak, and end up telling people too late, about issues that should have been addressed much earlier in the release cycle. I get tried of the standard solution to this problem that is presented in most test books and websites, which is `prove the approach doesn't work'. That is inevitability met with the response of upper management, 'keep the quality, but cut the test effort'. (Shoot the messenger)

This book isn't going to waste your time with superficial solutions, or perfect world scenarios, this book is written from the trenches. I spent the first day reading it, nodding my head, and at times yelling "yes, that's it EXACTLY". The writers are drawing from experience, they understand testing software, and more importantly, they understand how to position a tester, and a test team, for success. This book goes far beyond Kaner's "Testing Computer Software", and is a must for any software tester who is passionate about shipping quality products.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
test architect, error msg, software test engineers, customer feedback systems, engineering excellence, engineering life cycles, test manager, test talks, invalid address, bug workflow, test leadership team, software plus services, basis path testing, compound conditional clauses, parameter variable states, managing bugs, structural testing techniques, simple conditional clauses, pesticide paradox, incoming bugs, bug metrics, character code points, exploratory testing, bug tracking system, duplicate bugs
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Testing Software Plus Services, Spec Explorer, Test Excellence, Error Message, Non-Functional Testing, Windows Vista, Visual Studio, Other Tools, Software Engineering, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Windows, Model-Based Testing, Solving Tomorrow's Problems Today, False True, Code Complexity, Windows Live, Analyzing Risk, Windows Server, Office Online, Building the Future, Practical Approach, Application Verifier, Steve Ballmer, United States, Microsoft Research
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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