Product Description

This book will teach you how to test computer software under real–world conditions. The authors have all been test managers and software development managers at well–known Silicon Valley software companies. Successful consumer software companies have learned how to produce high–quality products under tight time and budget constraints. The book explains the testing side of that success.

Who this book is for:
∗ Testers and Test Managers
∗ Project Managers–Understand the timeline, depth of investigation, and quality of communication to hold testers accountable for.
∗ Programmers–Gain insight into the sources of errors in your code, understand what tests your work will have to pass, and why testers do the things they do.
∗ Students–Train for an entry–level position in software development.

What you will learn:
∗ How to find important bugs quickly
∗ How to describe software errors clearly
∗ How to create a testing plan with a minimum of paperwork
∗ How to design and use a bug–tracking system
∗ Where testing fits in the product development process
∗ How to test products that will be translated into other languages
∗ How to test for compatibility with devices, such as printers
∗ What laws apply to software quality

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #118580 in Books
• Published on: 1999-04-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Computer software testing is absolutely essential to the success of any software company and, consequently, has become one of the most rapidly growing areas of employment in the industry. This is a must-have for students wanting entry-level positions as testers, experienced programmers who need to find errors fast or communicate with armies of testers, and project and test managers who need to choreograph the many people, deadlines, and expectations. It might even be a good book for people who have recently bought buggy operating systems that don't live up to the hype. Very Highly Recommended.

Review
"I enjoyed reading Testing computer software. The text contains numerous highlights Offering practical advice, authoritative figures you can cite to customers and higher management, and entertaining anecdotes to share with coworkers Although some sections need updating, I still think it is a valuable training and reference source for software testers, managers, and developers." ––Diomidis Spinellis; IEEE software magazine (May /June 2001))

"Deep insight and a great deal of experience is contained in this book" (Database & Network Journal, Vol 30/5 2000)

Review
"Deep insight and a great deal of experience is contained in this book" (Database & Network Journal, Vol 30/5 2000)

Customer Reviews

Everything you need to know about introducing a Testing Dept
This book is absolutely brilliant for getting you started if you need to introduce Testing as a discipline to your company.

If you are facing barriers, this book will help remove them with sound and practical advice on test strategy, some simple processes, an easy bug database, plus much more.

After your first project is completed suddenly people will start seeing you as a force to be reckoned with. Respect will begin to flow your way and once-sceptical colleagues will begin to co-operate.

This book teaches you a common sense approach to software testing with healthy doses of best practice and practical advice from test strategy through to example bug reports.

But if you already have a testing process, why not check this out anyway? You may learn something new.

Problems with sensitive Designers or Developers? Then read about non-confrontational bug reporting. 40% of all bugs found in Requirements specs... learn where testing really should begin - at design not after beta release.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. Without it I could not have established and managed a testing department of ten, that achieved half of the CMM within 6 months.

Useful but dated
Contains some useful ideas and comments on the theory and practice behind software testing but as previous reviews have noted, it is maybe starting to show its age a little bit and is probably due a revised edition. Not everyone will find all chapters of this book interesting or relevant with seemingly unecessarily large volumes of text on things like; the in and outs of testing printers, creating in-house bug tracking and reporting processes, managing testing teams and legal aspects of software testing (based almost entirely in US law). Overall, if you are interested in all aspects of the testing process you could do worse than buy this book but there are probably better texts available.

Good text...excellent coverage...bad philosophy...
I first read this text back in the early '90's and believed it to be incredibly incisive and perceptive. It seemed to illuminate problems before they existed for me! I felt I had an 'inside edge' on the other guys. However, as time went on, I began to realize that the text espouses placing my proverbial fingers in the holes of our crackling dam. I now use the book as a starting place on designing logical test cases. However, that is where the book stops. See, in producing software for the government, there are these things known as REQUIREMENTS which must be verified and validated via inspections and a traceability matrix, respectively. I suppose this situation is also prevalent in corporations who wish to sell software to the burgeoning EU, Japan, and Australia. With standards such as ISO 9000.3 and the CMM becoming more and more important, I would like to see Mr. Kaner et. al. attempt to incorporate these standards (which are ensconced in Quality control) into their up coming revision. Who knows? Maybe it is possible to actually perform great testing in both the logical-based and requirements-based arenas?