A hands-on guide to testing techniques that deliver reliable software and systems
Testing even a simple system can quickly turn into a potentially infinite task. Faced with tight costs and schedules, testers need to have a toolkit of practical techniques combined with hands-on experience and the right strategies in order to complete a successful project. World-renowned testing expert Rex Black provides you with the proven methods and concepts that test professionals must know. He presents you with the fundamental techniques for testing and clearly shows you how to select and apply successful strategies to test a system with budget and time constraints.
Black begins by discussing the goals and tactics of effective and efficient testing. Next, he lays the foundation of his technique for risk-based testing, explaining how to analyze, prioritize, and document risks to the quality of the system using both informal and formal techniques. He then clearly describes how to design, develop, and, ultimately, document various kinds of tests. Because this is a hands-on activity, Black includes realistic, life-sized exercises that illustrate all of the major test techniques with detailed solutions.
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A hands-on guide to testing techniques that deliver reliable software and systems
Testing even a simple system can quickly turn into a potentially infinite task. Faced with tight costs and schedules, testers need to have a toolkit of practical techniques combined with hands-on experience and the right strategies in order to complete a successful project. World-renowned testing expert Rex Black provides you with the proven methods and concepts that test professionals must know. He presents you with the fundamental techniques for testing and clearly shows you how to select and apply successful strategies to test a system with budget and time constraints.
Black begins by discussing the goals and tactics of effective and efficient testing. Next, he lays the foundation of his technique for risk-based testing, explaining how to analyze, prioritize, and document risks to the quality of the system using both informal and formal techniques. He then clearly describes how to design, develop, and, ultimately, document various kinds of tests. Because this is a hands-on activity, Black includes realistic, life-sized exercises that illustrate all of the major test techniques with detailed solutions.
By the end of this book, you'll know more about the nuts and bolts of testing than most testers learn in an entire career, and you'll be ready to put those ideas into action on your next test project.
With the help of real-world examples integrated throughout the chapters, you'll discover how to:
Analyze the risks to system quality
Allocate your testing effort appropriately based on the level of risk
Choose the right testing strategies every time
Design tests based on a system's expected behavior (black box) or internal structure (white box)
Plan and perform integration testing
Explore and attack the system
Focus your hard work to serve the needs of the project
The author's companion Web site provides exercises, tips, and techniques that can be used to gain valuable experience and effectively test software and systems.
Visit the author's Web site at http://www.rexblackconsulting.com/
About the Author
Rex Black is a 20-plus-year software and systems engineering veteran, and President and Principal Consultant of RBCS, Inc., a leader in software, hardware, and systems testing. He is the author of Managing the Testing Process as well as numerous articles. Black is also President of both the International Software Testing Qualifications Board and the American Software Testing Qualifications Board.
With thirty years of software and systems engineering experience, Rex Black is President of RBCS (www.rbcs-us.com), a leader in software, hardware, and systems testing. For almost twenty years, RBCS has delivered consulting, outsourcing and training services in the areas of software, hardware, and systems testing and quality. Employing the industry's most experienced and recognized consultants, RBCS conducts product testing, builds and improves testing groups, and provides testing staff for hundreds of clients worldwide. Ranging from Fortune 20 companies to start-ups, RBCS clients save time and money through higher quality, improved product development, decreased tech support calls, improved reputation, and more. As the leader of RBCS, Rex is the most prolific author practicing in the field of software testing today. His popular first book, Managing the Testing Process, has sold over 50,000 copies around the world, including Japanese, Chinese, and Indian releases, and is now in its third edition. His nine other books on testing, Advanced Software Testing: Volumes I, II, and III, Critical Testing Processes, Foundations of Software Testing, Pragmatic Software Testing, Fundamentos de Pruebas de Software, Testing Metrics, and Improving the Testing Process have also sold tens of thousands of copies, including Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indian, and Russian editions. He has written over forty articles, presented hundreds of papers, workshops, and seminars, and given about fifty keynotes and other speeches at conferences and events around the world. Rex is the past President of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board and of the American Software Testing Qualifications Board.
There is nothing wrong with this book but on the other hand there is nothing essential here that hasn't been covered thoroughly in several other books. I prefer Patton's "Software Testing" 2nd ed., for example, for principles and McCaffery's ".NET Test Automation" for code techniques. My advice is to compare the table of contents of several software testing books before you pick this book.
If I could only buy one software testing book (or, more realistically, if I only had time to read one), this would be it. This is a practical guide with realistic, useful and immediately applicable techniques that save time, improve test quality and improve testing effectiveness. It's a must read for my department.
I purchased this book after reading the reviews. I have not read it cover to cover, since I am using it as a ready reference in my medical device consulting practice. As such, it has proven its worth. Under one cover, it provides an overview of the most prevalent testing techniques and related subjects, including the very important (to me and my industry) issues of quality / risk-based testing (risk assessment, management, et al). It pulls in applicable standards (ISO, IEEE ...), and supplements narrative with appropriate graphics (diagrams, flow charts ...). As with all my reviews, I view a book as useful if it provides just a few immediately useful points for my understanding and my business. Pragmatic Software Testing by Rex Black supplies such points in abundance, and has become one of my top "go-to" references in product / production / test equipment software testing / verification and validation. Incidently, a scan of most of my reviews will show 4-5 stars. This is because I only choose to review what I consider useful publications I have read. I d/n bother "panning" those I d/n find useful -- and there are others I haven't yet read, of course.
