Exploratory Software Testing

How to Find and Fix the Killer Software Bugs that Evade Conventional Testing In Exploratory Software Testing, renowned software testing expert James Whittaker reveals the real causes of today’s most serious, well-hidden software bugs--and introduces powerful new “exploratory” techniques for finding and correcting them. Drawing on nearly two decades of experience working at the cutting edge of testing with Google, Microsoft, and other top software organizations, Whittaker introduces innovative new processes for manual testing that are repeatable, prescriptive, teachable, and extremely effective. Whittaker defines both in-the-small techniques for individual testers and in-the-large techniques to supercharge test teams. He also introduces a hybrid strategy for injecting exploratory concepts into traditional scripted testing. You’ll learn when to use each, and how to use them all successfully. Concise, entertaining, and actionable, this book introduces robust techniques that have been used extensively by real testers on shipping software, illuminating their actual experiences with these techniques, and the results they’ve achieved. Writing for testers, QA specialists, developers, program managers, and architects alike, Whittaker answers crucial questions such as: • Why do some bugs remain invisible to automated testing--and how can I uncover them? • What techniques will help me consistently discover and eliminate “show stopper” bugs? • How do I make manual testing more effective--and less boring and unpleasant? • What’s the most effective high-level test strategy for each project? • Which inputs should I test when I can’t test them all? • Which test cases will provide the best feature coverage? • How can I get better results by combining exploratory testing with traditional script or scenario-based testing? • How do I reflect feedback from the development process, such as code changes?

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.

Softwaretests stellen eine kritische Phase in der Softwareentwicklung dar. Jetzt zeigt sich, ob das Programm die entsprechenden Anforderungen erfüllt und sich auch keine Programmierungsfehler eingeschlichen haben. Doch wie bei allen Phasen im Software-Entwicklungsprozess gibt es auch hier eine Reihe möglicher Fallstricke, die die Entdeckung von Programmfehlern vereiteln können. Deshalb brauchen Softwaretester ein Handbuch, das alle Tipps, Tricks und die häufigsten Fehlerquellen genau auflistet und erläutert, damit mögliche Testfehler von vornherein vermieden werden können. Ein solches Handbuch ersetzt gut und gerne jahr(zehnt)elange Erfahrung und erspart dem Tester frustrierende und langwierige Trial-und-Error-Prozeduren. Chem Kaner und James Bach sind zwei der international führenden Experten auf dem Gebiet des Software Testing. Sie schöpfen hier aus ihrer insgesamt 30-jährigen Erfahrung. Die einzelnen Lektionen sind nach Themenbereichen gegliedert, wie z.B. Testdesign, Test Management, Teststrategien und Fehleranalyse. Jede Lektion enthält eine Behauptung und eine Erklärung sowie ein Beispiel des entsprechenden Testproblems. "Lessons Learned in Software Testing" ist ein unverzichtbarer Begleiter für jeden Software Tester.

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

Are you in charge of your own testing? Do you have the advice you need to advance your test approach? "Dear Evil Tester" contains advice about testing that you won't hear anywhere else. "Dear Evil Tester" is a three pronged publication designed to: -provoke not placate, -make you react rather than relax, -help you laugh not languish. Starting gently with the laugh out loud Agony Uncle answers originally published in 'The Testing Planet'. "Dear Evil Tester" then provides new answers, to never before published questions, that will hit your beliefs where they change. Before presenting you with essays that will help you unleash your own inner Evil Tester. With advice on automating, communication, talking at conferences, psychotherapy for testers, exploratory testing, tools, technical testing, and more. Dear Evil Tester randomly samples the Software Testing stomping ground before walking all over it. "Dear Evil Tester" is a revolutionary testing book for the mind which shows you an alternative approach to testing built on responsibility, control and laughter. Read what our early reviewers had to say: "Wonderful stuff there. Real deep." Rob Sabourin, @RobertASabourin Author of "I Am a Bug" "The more you know about software testing, the more you will find to amuse you." Dot Graham, @dorothygraham Author of "Experiences of Test Automation" "laugh-out-loud episodes" Paul Gerrard, @paul_gerrard Author of "The Tester's Pocketbook" "A great read for every Tester." Andy Glover, @cartoontester Author of "Cartoon Tester"

2012 Jolt Award finalist! Pioneering the Future of Software Test Do you need to get it right, too? Then, learn from Google. Legendary testing expert James Whittaker, until recently a Google testing leader, and two top Google experts reveal exactly how Google tests software, offering brand-new best practices you can use even if you’re not quite Google’s size...yet! Breakthrough Techniques You Can Actually Use Discover 100% practical, amazingly scalable techniques for analyzing risk and planning tests...thinking like real users...implementing exploratory, black box, white box, and acceptance testing...getting usable feedback...tracking issues...choosing and creating tools...testing “Docs & Mocks,” interfaces, classes, modules, libraries, binaries, services, and infrastructure...reviewing code and refactoring...using test hooks, presubmit scripts, queues, continuous builds, and more. With these techniques, you can transform testing from a bottleneck into an accelerator–and make your whole organization more productive!

In this work, over 40 pioneering implementers share their experiences and best practices in 28 case studies. Drawing on their insights, you can avoid the pitfalls associated with test automation, and achieve powerful results on every metric you care about: quality, cost, time to market, usability, and value.

CD-ROM contains: Canned HEAT v.2.0 -- Holodeck Lite v. 1.0.