A hands-on guide to testing techniques that deliver reliable software and systems Testing even a simple system can quickly turn into a potentially infinite task. Faced with tight costs and schedules, testers need to have a toolkit of practical techniques combined with hands-on experience and the right strategies in order to complete a successful project. World-renowned testing expert Rex Black provides you with the proven methods and concepts that test professionals must know. He presents you with the fundamental techniques for testing and clearly shows you how to select and apply successful strategies to test a system with budget and time constraints. Black begins by discussing the goals and tactics of effective and efficient testing. Next, he lays the foundation of his technique for risk-based testing, explaining how to analyze, prioritize, and document risks to the quality of the system using both informal and formal techniques. He then clearly describes how to design, develop, and, ultimately, document various kinds of tests. Because this is a hands-on activity, Black includes realistic, life-sized exercises that illustrate all of the major test techniques with detailed solutions.

"This book addresses the topic of software design: how to decompose complex software systems into modules (such as classes and methods) that can be implemented relatively independently. The book first introduces the fundamental problem in software design, which is managing complexity. It then discusses philosophical issues about how to approach the software design process and it presents a collection of design principles to apply during software design. The book also introduces a set of red flags that identify design problems. You can apply the ideas in this book to minimize the complexity of large software systems, so that you can write software more quickly and cheaply."--Amazon.

The Pragmatic Programmers classic is back! Freshly updated for modern software development, Pragmatic Unit Testing in Java 8 With JUnit teaches you how to write and run easily maintained unit tests in JUnit with confidence. You'll learn mnemonics to help you know what tests to write, how to remember all the boundary conditions, and what the qualities of a good test are. You'll see how unit tests can pay off by allowing you to keep your system code clean, and you'll learn how to handle the stuff that seems too tough to test. Pragmatic Unit Testing in Java 8 With JUnit steps you through all the important unit testing topics. If you've never written a unit test, you'll see screen shots from Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, and NetBeans that will help you get past the hard part--getting set up and started. Once past the basics, you'll learn why you want to write unit tests and how to effectively use JUnit. But the meaty part of the book is its collected unit testing wisdom from people who've been there, done that on production systems for at least 15 years: veteran author and developer Jeff Langr, building on the wisdom of Pragmatic Programmers Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas. You'll learn: How to craft your unit tests to minimize your effort in maintaining them. How to use unit tests to help keep your system clean. How to test the tough stuff. Memorable mnemonics to help you remember what's important when writing unit tests. How to help your team reap and sustain the benefits of unit testing. You won't just learn about unit testing in theory--you'll work through numerous code examples. When it comes to programming, hands-on is the only way to learn!

What others in the trenches say about The Pragmatic Programmer... “The cool thing about this book is that it’s great for keeping the programming process fresh. The book helps you to continue to grow and clearly comes from people who have been there.” — Kent Beck, author of Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change “I found this book to be a great mix of solid advice and wonderful analogies!” — Martin Fowler, author of Refactoring and UML Distilled “I would buy a copy, read it twice, then tell all my colleagues to run out and grab a copy. This is a book I would never loan because I would worry about it being lost.” — Kevin Ruland, Management Science, MSG-Logistics “The wisdom and practical experience of the authors is obvious. The topics presented are relevant and useful.... By far its greatest strength for me has been the outstanding analogies—tracer bullets, broken windows, and the fabulous helicopter-based explanation of the need for orthogonality, especially in a crisis situation. I have little doubt that this book will eventually become an excellent source of useful information for journeymen programmers and expert mentors alike.” — John Lakos, author of Large-Scale C++ Software Design “This is the sort of book I will buy a dozen copies of when it comes out so I can give it to my clients.” — Eric Vought, Software Engineer “Most modern books on software development fail to cover the basics of what makes a great software developer, instead spending their time on syntax or technology where in reality the greatest leverage possible for any software team is in having talented developers who really know their craft well. An excellent book.” — Pete McBreen, Independent Consultant “Since reading this book, I have implemented many of the practical suggestions and tips it contains. Across the board, they have saved my company time and money while helping me get my job done quicker! This should be a desktop reference for everyone who works with code for a living.” — Jared Richardson, Senior Software Developer, iRenaissance, Inc. “I would like to see this issued to every new employee at my company....” — Chris Cleeland, Senior Software Engineer, Object Computing, Inc. “If I’m putting together a project, it’s the authors of this book that I want. . . . And failing that I’d settle for people who’ve read their book.” — Ward Cunningham Straight from the programming trenches, The Pragmatic Programmer cuts through the increasing specialization and technicalities of modern software development to examine the core process--taking a requirement and producing working, maintainable code that delights its users. It covers topics ranging from personal responsibility and career development to architectural techniques for keeping your code flexible and easy to adapt and reuse. Read this book, and you'll learn how to Fight software rot; Avoid the trap of duplicating knowledge; Write flexible, dynamic, and adaptable code; Avoid programming by coincidence; Bullet-proof your code with contracts, assertions, and exceptions; Capture real requirements; Test ruthlessly and effectively; Delight your users; Build teams of pragmatic programmers; and Make your developments more precise with automation. Written as a series of self-contained sections and filled with entertaining anecdotes, thoughtful examples, and interesting analogies, The Pragmatic Programmer illustrates the best practices and major pitfalls of many different aspects of software development. Whether you're a new coder, an experienced programmer, or a manager responsible for software projects, use these lessons daily, and you'll quickly see improvements in personal productivity, accuracy, and job satisfaction. You'll learn skills and develop habits and attitudes that form the foundation for long-term success in your career. You'll become a Pragmatic Programmer.

Uncover surprises, risks, and potentially serious bugs with exploratory testing. Rather than designing all tests in advance, explorers design and execute small, rapid experiments, using what they learned from the last little experiment to inform the next. Learn essential skills of a master explorer, including how to analyze software to discover key points of vulnerability, how to design experiments on the fly, how to hone your observation skills, and how to focus your efforts. Software is full of surprises. No matter how careful or skilled you are, when you create software it can behave differently than you intended. Exploratory testing mitigates those risks. Part 1 introduces the core, essential skills of a master explorer. You'll learn to craft charters to guide your exploration, to observe what's really happening (hint: it's harder than it sounds), to identify interesting variations, and to determine what expected behavior should be when exercising software in unexpected ways. Part 2 builds on that foundation. You'll learn how to explore by varying interactions, sequences, data, timing, and configurations. Along the way you'll see how to incorporate analysis techniques like state modeling, data modeling, and defining context diagrams into your explorer's arsenal. Part 3 brings the techniques back into the context of a software project. You'll apply the skills and techniques in a variety of contexts and integrate exploration into the development cycle from the very beginning. You can apply the techniques in this book to any kind of software. Whether you work on embedded systems, Web applications, desktop applications, APIs, or something else, you'll find this book contains a wealth of concrete and practical advice about exploring your software to discover its capabilities, limitations, and risks.

Software startups make global headlines every day. As technology companies succeed and grow, so do their engineering departments. In your career, you'll may suddenly get the opportunity to lead teams: to become a manager. But this is often uncharted territory. How can you decide whether this career move is right for you? And if you do, what do you need to learn to succeed? Where do you start? How do you know that you're doing it right? What does "it" even mean? And isn't management a dirty word? This book will share the secrets you need to know to manage engineers successfully. Going from engineer to manager doesn't have to be intimidating. Engineers can be managers, and fantastic ones at that. Cast aside the rhetoric and focus on practical, hands-on techniques and tools. You'll become an effective and supportive team leader that your staff will look up to. Start with your transition to being a manager and see how that compares to being an engineer. Learn how to better organize information, feel productive, and delegate, but not micromanage. Discover how to manage your own boss, hire and fire, do performance and salary reviews, and build a great team. You'll also learn the psychology: how to ship while keeping staff happy, coach and mentor, deal with deadline pressure, handle sensitive information, and navigate workplace politics. Consider your whole department. How can you work with other teams to ensure best practice? How do you help form guilds and committees and communicate effectively? How can you create career tracks for individual contributors and managers? How can you support flexible and remote working? How can you improve diversity in the industry through your own actions? This book will show you how. Great managers can make the world a better place. Join us.

An updated edition of the best tips and tools to plan, build, and execute a structured test operation In this update of his bestselling book, Rex Black walks you through how to develop essential tools and apply them to your test project. He helps you master the basic tools, apply the techniques to manage your resources, and give each area just the right amount of attention so that you can successfully survive managing a test project! Offering a thorough review of the tools and resources you will need to manage both large and small projects for hardware and software, this book prepares you to adapt the concepts across a broad range of settings. Simple and effective, the tools comply with industry standards and bring you up to date with the best test management practices and tools of leading hardware and software vendors. Rex Black draws from his own numerous testing experiences-- including the bad ones, so you can learn from his mistakes-- to provide you with insightful tips in test project management. He explores such topics as: Dates, budgets, and quality-expectations versus reality Fitting the testing process into the overall development or maintenance process How to choose and when to use test engineers and technicians, contractors and consultants, and external test labs and vendors Setting up and using an effective and simple bug-tracking database Following the status of each test case The companion Web site contains fifty tools, templates, and case studies that will help you put these ideas into action--fast!