Software Testing (Paperback)

by Ron Patton (Author) "In 1947, computers were big, room-sized machines operating on mechanical relays and glowing vacuum tubes..." (more)
Key Phrases: reporting what you find, software testing position, tracking test cases, Quiz These, Chicken Little, Sams Teach Yourself (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Software Testing is the book for new or aspiring software testers interested in learning about this crucial part of the software development process. The complexity and size of today's software makes writing bug-free code extremely difficult, even for highly experienced programmers. Couple that with our increasing reliance on software for performing everyday tasks and its pervasiveness in the medical, telecommunications, manufacturing, and financial industries, and a software bug can spell disaster. Quality software can't be created with an ad- hoc, part-time, bug hunt. It requires a methodical and disciplined approach to preventing, finding, and reporting bugs. Software Testing will show you what it takes to be a successful software tester, assuring that you discover those nasty bugs before your customers do.

From the Author
Throughout my career in the software industry, I've trained scores of people on the subject of software testing. Some were new hires right out of school. Others were career changers entering the industry for the first time. A few were experienced programmers and managers who wanted to know "what the heck their software testers did all day." Over time I discovered a core set of knowledge that is essential for these novice software testers to learn, one that gives them an understanding and a jump-start into the field, but one that isn't too deep, too technical, or too managerial to lose them in the learning process. Unfortunately, I never found a single reference that put all of this information into one place, so I decided to write it myself. The result is this book - "Software Testing."

If you're thinking about a career in software testing, if you're starting a new testing job or about to interview for one, if you're a lead or manager and need to train a rookie tester, or if you just want to understand what software testing is all about, this book was written for you.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 408 pages
• Publisher: Sams (November 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672319837
• ISBN-13: 978-0672319839
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 7.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #424,124 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid, informative, and well targeted for the audience, February 20, 2001

By	Scott Stirling "s.stirling" (Framingham, MA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book for People Entering the Testing Field, June 9, 2001

By	Randy Rice "Software Testing Consultant & Tra... (Oklahoma City, OK) - See all my reviews

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!

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Book Contents, May 13, 2006

By	MAURICIO AGUIAR (Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Software Testing (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

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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