Customer Reviews

Software Testing: The Basics of the Trade

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I was reviewing this book to see if it would be something worth advising my employees to read. I was looking for something short and to the point that would cover briefly cover all aspects of Test Engineering without offering opinions into which methods work and don't work. The only part of the book you really get to read in the 10 page preview is the introduction, the author makes it a point to tell you that he is writing a book free of opinions & gets to the heart of what Test Engineering really is.

This is why I decided to give the book a shot, unfortunately the author is unable to keep to his own goal. Right from the start he is trying to convince you that his book is worth reading, explaining why other books are no good &/or not worth the money. He continues this kind of attitude through at least the end of chapter 2 (for that is as far as I was able to read). He bashed on the programming skills of people from foreign countries and pretty much bashes on anyone who isn't him.
This book is a complete waste of time & I would advise anyone wanting to learn about Test Engineering to look elsewhere. There is nothing to learn here except how to have a poor attitude which is not a skill anyone hoping to find a job want to have.

Search for 'Steve Jobs,part 1' on the "tube"; Go to 07:46 to 07:60 for Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs' biographer's CBS comment on Jobs technical skills, quote: "He didn't know how to write code or program a computer".

Hooray!!! What a relief to discover that Steve Jobs was another CEO who had to deal with the gap between management nous and argumentative handcoding gurus. And it appears that this thin book by Gaia Asher is just what entrepreneurs need to retake executive command of their production line. No more bowing and scraping to their the code gurus who,(not all)couldn't care less about keylines, PMS colour matching, type faces, aesthetic form and grace... and SECURITY. (No, usually just plop it in a frame and HTML the damn thing without even beta testing or code QA.) You see, even my programmers thought that beta testing was good enough for release to the client. Gosh.


Over the years,with the fazing out of reflective artwork made ready for the printers, and with the fazing in of graphics computer programs and hand-coding whiz kids, our executive team developed a solution to bridge the mindset "Gap" between constipated hand-coders and starry-eyed graphic designers... "Never the twain shall meet" we used to say. Our solution to designing a great product, interactive or print collateral, was for our Senior art director to sit down next to the hand coder and watch and direct every move made to get a valuable end result ready to go to press or onto the web. (Yes we develop e-commerce websites too for a brandname airline, beers, as well as some national sports teams and venues, etc.)

Now, after reading Ms. Asher's eye-opening disclosures and funny explanations of Cyber security...without having to stare at pages of code examples, I can talk to my hand coders without bowing and offering my first-born to get clean results. Apparently Jobs had to shout and scream to get what he wanted. But now, thanks to Ms Asher, I know what they are saying and doing. In fact, her enthusiasm ignited my interest so that I am now half way through a C# course and enjoying every bit of it. No hiding from the boss this time.