The Art of Software Testing

The Art of Software Testing provides the novice with the essentials for developing and implementing a comprehensive testing approach. It's also a valuable resource for those with experience. I dive into this book constantly. The premise is simple enough: How can you write effective test cases that adequately exercise your system requirements? Myers suggests that good software testing depends on the answer. Testing what the program is supposed to do is only part of the battle. However, in my experience, this is usually where we plant our flag. This can be difficult enough, depending on the quality of the criteria. Bad or vague requirements necessarily lead to insufficient and flawed testing. As a result negative testing, boundary testing, testing for unexpected conditions, and so forth will often go by the wayside. In addition, testing is often presented as a gateway to production, and can be cursory as a result. The creativity and time that adequate test cases demand are simply not within project scope. This is often exacerbated by intent to pass systems without finding errors. Myers addresses these issues as he explores test planning and creation. Hence this book really belongs on the shelves, not only of software testers, but project management as well. The methodology of requirements-based testing is not new. However the profession is growing and more sectors are discovering the need for testing their systems. Art of Software Testing is still relevant and should be promulgated.

After 25 years of influencing test professionals this classic has been updated in the second edition to reflect contemporary testing challenges. Note that this review is for ISBN 0471469122.The first three chapters have kept their titles, but have been greatly expanded. For example, chapter 2 now includes black- and white-box testing overviews in addition to discussions on economics and testing principles. Chapter 3 now covers error types in addition to the original topics related to inspections and walkthroughs. Among the error types discussed are data reference and declaration, computation, comparison, control flow, and interface and I/O.Test case design has been expanded, and the chapters on module and high-order testing, and debugging have been given major facelifts and much wider coverage of techniques. The most significant changes, though, are chapters 8 and 9, Extreme Testing and Internet Testing, which truly reflect the extent of this book's update for the second edition. While the update is extensive, the part I personally liked the most is in Chapter 6, High-Order Testing. Consider these new test types, some of which were not even considered a part of testing back in 1979 when the first edition was published: facility, volume, stress, usability, security, performance, storage, configuration, compatibility/configuration/conversion, installability, reliability, recovery, serviceability, documentation, and procedure testing.This book belongs in every serious test professional's library. I'm retiring my copy of the first edition, a book that I've used since the early 1980s, to a special place in my library reserved for classic books. This second edition will be one of my primary testing references for some time to come.

This is by far the most concise and insightful book I've ever read about code level testing. It does not have all the nitty gritty details of every which method ever invented, nor does go into details about the paperwork. But the lists of principles and checklists are priceless. I would not recommend this book for beginners since it is hard for inexperienced testers to pick out the gems from the dated items.I agree with a previous review that stated that the first hundred or so pages are must reads. Don't be put off by the $ per page ratio. This book is worth every penny.

......... this is probably not the first book that you would buy about software testing.However, the book is a classic and it deserves a place on a serious tester's bookshelf. Its examples are dated, I think its description of cause-effect graphing is incomprehensible, and its catalog of test types in the pages from 103 forward is sketchy.The book is valuable because its presentation of the basic issues is clear, concise, and persuasive. The discussion of equivalence classes and boundaries is remarkably clear. When we wrote Testing Computer Software, one of our goals was to handle this important topic as clearly and crisply as Myers. That was a challenge, and I'm not sure we succeeded. (Jorgensen's Software Testing: A Craftsman's Approach does a great job with this topic.) The discussion of bias (one of the issues in the psychology of testing) is also well done. In short, the first 103 pages of the book are some of the best writing in the field and have had a powerful influence on the writers who came later. Reading them in the original will often, I suspect, make subsequent presentations clearer and more meaningful.-- Cem Kaner (senior author: Testing Computer Software)

Like all standard references, one can argue that the book is dated. In details perhaps yes, though my professional experience indicates that a 25 year old book still defines a higher level of software testing than the current state of the practice.The first 75 pages lay out the basic approaches to software testing and make for easy technical reading. More detailed graph theory follows and helps take the reader to a more rigorous approach.Please feel free to contact me for more detailed insght and opinions.Doug Claflin; President - Maritime Design