Any good book about Software Test Engineering specifically targeted to programmers?

Question

There are a lot of questions related to Unit Testing on stack overflow, but I'm at the moment interested in understanding more about the testing role on a software development project.

So just to make it clear: I'm not looking for books on Unit Testing.

I believe that to be competent software developers we should know a bit about the related disciplines to programming, like Architecture, Configuration Management, User Experience Design, and Testing, to name a few.

I suppose that many of us think that if we understand programming, we already understand most of what a tester does, and think that we could do it ourselves without much problem, but I wonder how many developers really try to learn about the Software Test Engineering discipline and practices from books and other formal resources.

So, my question:

Is there any good introductory book about Software Testing? Ideally, is there one that is written specifically for programmers that want to understand what a Software Test Engineer does and what techniques, processes, theory, tools and skills are needed?

Answer 1

We were forced to read Ian Sommerville's Software Engineering. It contains a lot of information, but it's the most dry book I've ever read. Excellent for insomnia.

Answer 2

I would recommend

Pragmatic Software Testing - which provides a easy to read guide as to how a test professional should be thinking.

Pragmatic Software testing

If it is an agile project methodology then the following might be of interest also

Testing Extreme Programming

Answer 3

I have recommended this book in the past when asked similar questions.

In the off chance you can wait another 6 weeks or so to get the answer, this book will likely be a good alternative.

Answer 4

I'd take a look at Lessons Learned in Software Testing. It's not aimed at developers - but I think it's one of the better books for getting a general overview of what good testers do.

As the title suggests it's divided up into nearly 300 separate "lessons" - brief overviews of everything from testing techniques to planning a career in software testing.

The only two minor criticisms I could throw at it would be:

• since it covers a lot of ground - it can't go into too much detail
• it mostly predates the changing roles of testers within agile teams

but it's definitely worth a read. It's an excellent book on getting into the mindset of career testers.

Answer 5

Is there any good introductory book about Software Testing? Ideally, is there one that is written specifically for programmers that want to understand what a Software Test Engineer does and what techniques, processes, theory, tools and skills are needed?

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Software-Testing-Glenford-Myers/dp/0471043281

The Art of Software Testing - Glenford J Myers is an excellent introductory book for understanding Software Testing from a programmers perspective.

Answer 6

"Software Engineering": A Practitioner's Approach

By Roger S. Pressman.

It is a really helpful book on Testing and any other topic related to software design and development.