A Bible for Software Testing?

An anonymous reader asks: "I'm soon to be starting a position in software testing and wondered (well hoped) if Slashdot readers had recommendations for reading, in terms of dealing with testing from the trenches and management of the process. I've read a number of general software engineering texts, but what I'm looking for is a specific 'bible' on software testing that will get me in the right mindset, before I begin."

Comments

get certified, don't worry too much

[oiarbovnb]

You should think about getting certified as a CSTE (Certified Software Test Engineer) or CQA (Certified in Quality Assurance) from the Quality Assurance Institute.

By the way, I'm a software tester, and I hate my job. And don't worry about being too over-prepared for your job. All the testing jobs I've had (4 now) have been pretty simple. The first day on the job, you'll be introduced to your new computer, and if you are lucky, your co-workers. After that they will give you a bunch of documentation to look through and in about 2-4 weeks you will begin testing from scripts. It's the easiest, most mind-numbing job for a computer professional. Not fun if you ask me... If you are detail-oriented, and not problem-solving oriented, it might be a good match for you. But don't expect to do much thinking on the job...

Re:get certified, don't worry too much

[Quikah]

Contract software testing is menial labor. You just follow along with a script and report any defects you find (games are the worst types of apps to test BTW, mind-numbing and really kills any enjoyment you get from gaming). I agree it is very easy and boring. Probably why a lot of it is being dumped to India. Career QA professionals are the ones that are writing the scripts, scoping out the tests, setting up the testbeds, etc. This is very fun work to me.

If you want to continue in QA I suggest you look into getting some experience with automated tools. You will do a lot of coding and problem solving with those. It is a good fit for someone who enjoys coding but either is not good enough or just doesn't want to be a full time developer. Also there is a big demand for these skills.

Re:get certified, don't worry too much

[Peterl]

Automation can save significant amounts of time and money if the project:

• Has a large enough number of regressions to make the expense of automating less than the cost of all of the regressions.
• Has APIs and/or UIs that are stable enough over the project (and hopefully across versions) to allow the automation to work without lots of maintenance.
• Has management and development behind the automation effort so that time is properly allocated and dev understands the needs of QA.

Testing Computer Software

[jhoger]

Testing Computer Software

by Kaner, Falk, Nguyen

You can't go wrong with this one.

Testing Computer Software

[Quikah]

Testing Computer Software

by Cem Kaner, Jack L. Falk, Hung Quoc Nguyen, Jack Falk, Hung Q. Nguyen

If you plan on doing this as a career I am sure you will encounter something by James Bach, IMO he is overated and a bit of an ass (sent me outside a classroom because I didn't have any questions for him?! So I came up with a lame question I already knew the answer to and proceeded to fall asleep for the rest of the lecture).

Here's what's on my bookshelf

[steve.m]

I find these books useful:
Lessons learned in software testing - A good introduction
Software Testing - A whole load of thing you'd never think off
Software test automation:Effective use of test execution tools - A bible for implememting automated testing
How to break software - crashing apps by forcing error conditions
How to break software security - similar to above, but with security in mind

How To Break Software

[RomSteady]

How To Break Software by Dr. James Whittaker.

I was able to attend a "virtual lecture" by Dr. Whittaker thanks to a former employer. He not only understands the root causes for most bugs, but understands the core competencies that the best software testers have.

Software Testing in the Real World

[GlenRaphael]

I rather like the book Software Testing in the Real World: Improving the Process by Edward Kit. This book is very short, so you can read it in a reasonably finite time. It's aimed at the managerial end of things -- figuring out how to iteratively improve the testing process in an existing organization.

If you're not at a managerial level and need more localized nuts-and-bolts information, I'll second the recommendation everybody else is making - Testing Computer Software by Kaner/Falk/Nguyen.

If you want to get certified, you can find out about that here. As part of running tests to certify people, the Software Quality Institute maintains a current list of books here for Certified Software Test Engineers and here for Certified Software Quality Analysts.

(I'm signed up to take the CSTE next month.)