Customer Reviews

Software Testing

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ouch -- 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 is a book oriented toward people just entering or considering the testing field, although there are nuggets of information that even seasoned professionals will find helpful. Perhaps the greatest value of this book would be a resource for test team leaders to give to their new testers or test interns. To date, I haven?t seen a book that gives a better introduction to software testing with this amount of coverage. Ron Patton has written this book at a very understandable level and gives practical examples of every test type he discusses in the book. Plus, Patton uses examples that are accessible to most people, such as basic Windows utilities.

I like the simplicity and practicality of this book. There are no complex formulas or processes to confuse the reader that may be getting into testing for the first time. However, the important of process is discussed. I also have to say a big THANK YOU to Ron Patton for drawing the distinction between QA and testing! Finally, the breadth of coverage in Software Testing is super. Patton covers not only the most important topics, such as basic functional testing, but also attribute testing, such as usability and compatibility. He also covers web-based testing and test automation ? and as in all topics covered in the book, Patton knew when to stop. If you want to drill deeper on any of the topics in this book, there are other fine books that can take you there!

I love this book because it is practical, gives a good introduction to software testing, and has some things that even experienced testers will find of interest. This book is also a tool to communicate what testing and QA are all about. This is something that test organizations need as they make the message to management, developers and users. No test library should be without a copy of Software Testing by Ron Patton!

The "Search inside this book" feature was not available for this book when this review was posted. Hope it helps.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
01 Software testing background
02 The software development process
03 The realities of software testing
04 Examining the specification
05 Testing the software with blinders on
06 Examining the code
07 Testing the software with X-ray glasses
08 Configuration testing
09 Compatibility testing
10 Foreign-language testing
11 Usability testing
12 Testing the documentation
13 Testing for software security
14 Website testing
15 Automated testing and test tools
16 Bug bashes and beta testing
17 Planning your test effort
18 Writing and tracking test cases
19 Reporting what you find
20 Measuring your success
21 Software quality assurance
22 Your career as a software tester

Although I have no experience in software development or testing, my boss tasked me with writing software test plans for several applications that our company maintains and updates. Needless to say, I had no idea of where to begin. Web searches led me to several test plan templates, but no coherent body of information on processes, procedures, and documentation needed for software testing. Then, based on other reviews on this site, I bought a copy of Ron Patton's book. I found this book to be well organized and easy to understand. It contains a wealth of information on the entire software development process and puts the software test plan in the proper context. Using the knowledge I gained from this book, I was able to start the process of organizing our somewhat chaotic methods of software development and testing. I very highly recommend this book to anyone who needs to learn about software testing at the beginning level!

The most approachable book covering the array of traditional testing
techniques is also a good introduction for the junior tester. The book
is based on the internal training program at Microsoft, which trains
more testers than any other company and employs many of the leading
testing experts in the field.

When I read a book that introduces software testing I do a bit of mental testing by asking the following questions:

- Does the book give a solid approach? This one does.
- Does it introduce bad habits or sloppy procedures? Nowhere in this book.
- Could I trust the approach if I were a test manager and my team used this book exclusively as a reference? Yes.

Ron Patton has written a solid book for new testers, both those who are entering the discipline by choice and those who are thrown into it. The big picture describes the importance of testing, what can happen if testing is not properly done, and how testing fits within the development and software delivery process. This material is one of the best introductions to testing I've read, and it gives the new tester a view of how important his or her role is - and this is especially important for folks who have been thrown into testing.

The material on black and white box testing is solid, as are the chapters on practical application. I especially liked the scope of testing scenarios and how to perform the test, which range from configuration testing to usability testing. This part of the book is more complete than many other books for beginning and intermediate testers because it includes localization, compatibility and even documentation testing scenarios. This is one of the reasons why I would completely trust the approach in this book if I were managing a test team that used only this book as a reference (assuming, of course, they used it completely).

If you're an intermediate or experienced test professional this book will be too basic. However, if you are new to the discipline and want to quickly get up to speed this book is an easy read and promotes solid practices.

Highly recommended! Just plain perfect book. It could be titled "The Essence of Testing". It gives all you need and nothing redundant. I'm happy I was lucky to find and buy this book for our QA team. Thanks, Ron!

Very good book that covers several other topics related to software testing: software testing documentation, bug tracking Quality Assurance, compatibility and internationalization testing, ...
Contains many suggestions on areas that are error prone. I found the book and excellent introductory level book that exposes you to all the facets of software testing.
I give four stars as I found the part on actual software testing rather light. White/Black box static/dynamic testing are each covered in a separate chapter. Would be ideally complemented by a reference document on actual software testing techniques.

Ron Patton has written a wonderful introduction to software testing. It explains just the right amount of theory and concept before helping the reader build a solid understanding of the testing craft and providing the reader a good starter testing toolbox.
Because of the nature of my company?s work, I often find it appropriate to hire people with strong domain knowledge (plus evidence of traits and skills transferable to testing) to be testers. I lend my copy of this book to each new tester and make their first assignment be to read it. When they finish, they have a decent enough understanding of the work that I can make assignments right away.

This book offers a decent introduction into the field of software testing. Despite it's limited size the book covers a wide range of topics. These include a description of the software development process, the responsibilities of a tester and several kinds of testing. The latter include functional, security, usability and localization testing. Each kind of testing is illustrated by example which can be especially useful for the aspiring tester. However no subject is elaborated to the point where it can serve as a practical guide to a novice tester.