An excellent intro and great substitute for the course, 16 Oct 2008
I've been pretty involved in testing for years but it's never been a full-time job until recently. I was asked to take the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software testing by my boss and this book is the one ISEB and the BCS recommend to go with the exam.

This was a very clearly laid-out book with each concept in bite-sized chunks. The authors clearly draw on their real-life experiences of software testing in the frequent worked examples. Overall, with the revision questions and exercises, it's a very practical book.

I used the revised edition, but there are still a few typos and a couple of munged graphics which could do with tidying up, but they don't detract much from what is otherwise a very polished and concise book.

I was able to take and pass this exam solely on the basis of studying this book, doing the exercises and revision questions and making notes.

If you're planning to do the same, I can thoroughly recommend this book. For the exam, I would also suggest that you concentrate on the "white box" techniques in Chapter 4 and do all the exercises in this chapter. Good luck!

Very Useful, 04 Jun 2008
I can highly recommend this book.

I read the book before doing the course and certification. From the class I can see that the book really help me to in peace and quiteness understand how to do the diagrams for statement-, decision-, and path diagrams. Reading the book before in a decent pace also makes it much easier to cope with the high amount of information giving in the 3 days.

My recommendation for passing the exam is:

1) Read the book
or
2) Read the book and do the class

The book should be mandatory - the course is nice to have (and yes, I did have a VERY good teacher).

Good luck with the certification exam ;)

Excellent Book, 03 May 2008
I was initially given this book to self study for the ISEB exam and had read it before my employer changed her mind and sent me on the 3 day course.

I have to say that this book provides everything that you need to know for the exam. Make sure that you practice things such as Boundary Analysis, Equivalence Partitioning, Data Flows, Decision tables and State Transition if you only have the opportunity to self study. Make sure that you also cover testing tools. Once you have those testing methods fixed in your mind, you are half way there to a successful result. The course that I sat was good but this book covers everything that the course does.

Perfect in style and content, 12 Oct 2007
After recently starting a new job as a software tester, I had no formal experience of the theory and principles of testing and bought this book to help me pass the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing exam. Unlike many text books, I found this book was easy to just sit down and read and the example questions at the end of each section/chapter were spot-on for helping me re-cap on what had been learnt in the previous pages.

My employer put me through an intesive 3-day course for the cerficate in which the knowledge I had already learnt was cemented in my head! After each day at home I used the book as a revision guide, topping up knowledge in those areas I wasn't too confident on. I passed the exam with a Distinction (88%) and would recommend this book to anyone thinking of, or currently working towards this qualification.

Help Me Self Study For Exam, 26 Apr 2007
I have just passed the exam 1st go by self studying. This was one of the two books that I read to revise. I found the format of the book very good, each chapter starts off with a quick 3 question quiz to see what parts of the chapter you need to read. Then you get to the bulk of the information and finally a few test questions so you can see what parts you need to re-read.

Of the two books I used this was the most easy to read and put complex ideas in an easy to understand what they are trying to teach.

An excellent intro and great substitute for the course, 16 Oct 2008
I've been pretty involved in testing for years but it's never been a full-time job until recently. I was asked to take the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software testing by my boss and this book is the one ISEB and the BCS recommend to go with the exam.

This was a very clearly laid-out book with each concept in bite-sized chunks. The authors clearly draw on their real-life experiences of software testing in the frequent worked examples. Overall, with the revision questions and exercises, it's a very practical book.

I used the revised edition, but there are still a few typos and a couple of munged graphics which could do with tidying up, but they don't detract much from what is otherwise a very polished and concise book.

I was able to take and pass this exam solely on the basis of studying this book, doing the exercises and revision questions and making notes.

If you're planning to do the same, I can thoroughly recommend this book. For the exam, I would also suggest that you concentrate on the "white box" techniques in Chapter 4 and do all the exercises in this chapter. Good luck!

Very Useful, 04 Jun 2008
I can highly recommend this book.

I read the book before doing the course and certification. From the class I can see that the book really help me to in peace and quiteness understand how to do the diagrams for statement-, decision-, and path diagrams. Reading the book before in a decent pace also makes it much easier to cope with the high amount of information giving in the 3 days.

My recommendation for passing the exam is:

1) Read the book
or
2) Read the book and do the class

The book should be mandatory - the course is nice to have (and yes, I did have a VERY good teacher).

Good luck with the certification exam ;)

Excellent Book, 03 May 2008
I was initially given this book to self study for the ISEB exam and had read it before my employer changed her mind and sent me on the 3 day course.

I have to say that this book provides everything that you need to know for the exam. Make sure that you practice things such as Boundary Analysis, Equivalence Partitioning, Data Flows, Decision tables and State Transition if you only have the opportunity to self study. Make sure that you also cover testing tools. Once you have those testing methods fixed in your mind, you are half way there to a successful result. The course that I sat was good but this book covers everything that the course does.

Perfect in style and content, 12 Oct 2007
After recently starting a new job as a software tester, I had no formal experience of the theory and principles of testing and bought this book to help me pass the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing exam. Unlike many text books, I found this book was easy to just sit down and read and the example questions at the end of each section/chapter were spot-on for helping me re-cap on what had been learnt in the previous pages.

My employer put me through an intesive 3-day course for the cerficate in which the knowledge I had already learnt was cemented in my head! After each day at home I used the book as a revision guide, topping up knowledge in those areas I wasn't too confident on. I passed the exam with a Distinction (88%) and would recommend this book to anyone thinking of, or currently working towards this qualification.

Help Me Self Study For Exam, 26 Apr 2007
I have just passed the exam 1st go by self studying. This was one of the two books that I read to revise. I found the format of the book very good, each chapter starts off with a quick 3 question quiz to see what parts of the chapter you need to read. Then you get to the bulk of the information and finally a few test questions so you can see what parts you need to re-read.

Of the two books I used this was the most easy to read and put complex ideas in an easy to understand what they are trying to teach.

Write your test first, 16 Nov 2008
This book could very easily have been written in 1 page.
Write your tests first, and when necessary start with very small steps.
That is it, reading and remembering that, as useful a piece of information as it is, should save you about £25.
Kent Beck manages to string those two ideas over 200 pages, admittedly often very blank pages.
If you can buy it for less than £5 then get it otherwise leave well alone.


Short and sweet, 26 Nov 2004
Many of the other reviews for this book have criticised it for it's length and "lack of content". However, I found the book very enjoyable for what it is: an introduction to test driven development. TDD can be (and was for me) quite an alien concept for many programmers trained in a traditional way, where testing is often an afterthought. Kent's first example of TDD, while fairly trivial, outlines all the key points in how to practice TDD properly. It also fills you with confidence and makes you think "yeah, I could probably do that".

Perhaps you will feel differently, but I like the book simply because it is short. Huge computing textbooks that cram in too much information annoy me; I rarely have the time to read through such huge tomes or absorb everything they are trying to tell you in one sitting. I was able to read the first part of this book, and attain a reasonable understand of TDD in just over 2 hours.

The book is not terribly expensive either, and sets the stage for further reading on TDD and agile methodologies in general.

I would recommend this book if you are at all interested in TDD.

Denied 1 star only because it's an interesting idea, 27 Sep 2004
I'm going to list my 3 day old copy in the Used section after I've finished writing this review.

This book is in 4 sections, each of which would be a magazine article for any other author:

1. A tiring, trivial example of TDD strung out over a staggering 80 pages in normal Kent-Beck-six-sentences-per-page style.
2. An overview of JUnit, bizarrely documented in Python. Nothing against Python but what's the point when the aim is to understand JUnit, not get a taster in a new language?
3. An brief overview of Design Patterns
4. An brief overview of Refactoring

There is very little new in this book and even less to help with doing it on a real project.

But wait! Before I'm branded an unthinking curmudgeon it's not all bad; for those who have pondered the vexing issue of how to add a parameter to a method then tucked away on page 190 I found this pearl of wisdom:

1. If the method is an interface, add the parameter to it.
2. Add the parameter to the method
3. Use the compiler to show you the calls that need changing

Well what can I say...eureka? Thanks for that Kent, I'll raise it at my next developer meeting but tell'em I thought of it, they'll think me a genius.

How Addison Wesley can put this book in the same class as Martin Fowler's stuff is a mystery, the Fowler books contain more information in the Preface.

beginners guide, 20 Aug 2004
a good intro to testing from an XP sense. It lacks depth and therefore invites you to make you own leap to applying it to concepts not covered in the book.

worthwhile investment, 04 Feb 2004
The overall tone of this review may seem a little negative. Don't be put off. I think that this book is awesome.

I would have to agree with the previous reviewer about mistakes in proof-reading and documented progress vs actual progress in the task list. I would be surprised if the reviewers wrote any code whilst reading the book. That said, this gave me a much better understanding of how TDD should be an essential part of any development. In fact, the discrepancies encountered between the text and trying to follow it with my own code probably gave me more knowledge than if I had just copied what was in the book.

I was happy to see Python in there as I love this language and feel that it is still undervalued by a lot of people. This book almost serves as a very basic introduction to Python (if you bother to write the code) and indeed recommends this approach when learning any new language - it admittedly does help if you know the xUnit (JUnit) design and the use of the Java introspection facilities in the JUnit implementation before looking at how Python handles the same issues. I have used the same approach with a couple of other languages and it certainly makes a refreshing change from the usual Hello World route to getting to some proper applications running.

Some friends that have read the book feel that the style grates a little. I can understand this, but this book has too much to offer to let something like that get in the way of the message. They should try reading Bruce McKinney's HardCore Visual Basic for a book that really has the potential to annoy readers with the author's personality! (Again, I quite like that book)

I found this book a useful intermediate step from not using unit tests as well as I might, to comparing how they are used in some of the Eclipse plug-ins and various other open-source projects. You may not require the additional information that this book provides, but it is usually helpful to have a map when you go somewhere new. I suppose it depends on whether you are happy to stop and ask for directions!

An excellent intro and great substitute for the course, 16 Oct 2008
I've been pretty involved in testing for years but it's never been a full-time job until recently. I was asked to take the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software testing by my boss and this book is the one ISEB and the BCS recommend to go with the exam.

This was a very clearly laid-out book with each concept in bite-sized chunks. The authors clearly draw on their real-life experiences of software testing in the frequent worked examples. Overall, with the revision questions and exercises, it's a very practical book.

I used the revised edition, but there are still a few typos and a couple of munged graphics which could do with tidying up, but they don't detract much from what is otherwise a very polished and concise book.

I was able to take and pass this exam solely on the basis of studying this book, doing the exercises and revision questions and making notes.

If you're planning to do the same, I can thoroughly recommend this book. For the exam, I would also suggest that you concentrate on the "white box" techniques in Chapter 4 and do all the exercises in this chapter. Good luck!

Very Useful, 04 Jun 2008
I can highly recommend this book.

I read the book before doing the course and certification. From the class I can see that the book really help me to in peace and quiteness understand how to do the diagrams for statement-, decision-, and path diagrams. Reading the book before in a decent pace also makes it much easier to cope with the high amount of information giving in the 3 days.

My recommendation for passing the exam is:

1) Read the book
or
2) Read the book and do the class

The book should be mandatory - the course is nice to have (and yes, I did have a VERY good teacher).

Good luck with the certification exam ;)

Excellent Book, 03 May 2008
I was initially given this book to self study for the ISEB exam and had read it before my employer changed her mind and sent me on the 3 day course.

I have to say that this book provides everything that you need to know for the exam. Make sure that you practice things such as Boundary Analysis, Equivalence Partitioning, Data Flows, Decision tables and State Transition if you only have the opportunity to self study. Make sure that you also cover testing tools. Once you have those testing methods fixed in your mind, you are half way there to a successful result. The course that I sat was good but this book covers everything that the course does.

Perfect in style and content, 12 Oct 2007
After recently starting a new job as a software tester, I had no formal experience of the theory and principles of testing and bought this book to help me pass the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing exam. Unlike many text books, I found this book was easy to just sit down and read and the example questions at the end of each section/chapter were spot-on for helping me re-cap on what had been learnt in the previous pages.

My employer put me through an intesive 3-day course for the cerficate in which the knowledge I had already learnt was cemented in my head! After each day at home I used the book as a revision guide, topping up knowledge in those areas I wasn't too confident on. I passed the exam with a Distinction (88%) and would recommend this book to anyone thinking of, or currently working towards this qualification.

Help Me Self Study For Exam, 26 Apr 2007
I have just passed the exam 1st go by self studying. This was one of the two books that I read to revise. I found the format of the book very good, each chapter starts off with a quick 3 question quiz to see what parts of the chapter you need to read. Then you get to the bulk of the information and finally a few test questions so you can see what parts you need to re-read.

Of the two books I used this was the most easy to read and put complex ideas in an easy to understand what they are trying to teach.

Write your test first, 16 Nov 2008
This book could very easily have been written in 1 page.
Write your tests first, and when necessary start with very small steps.
That is it, reading and remembering that, as useful a piece of information as it is, should save you about £25.
Kent Beck manages to string those two ideas over 200 pages, admittedly often very blank pages.
If you can buy it for less than £5 then get it otherwise leave well alone.


Short and sweet, 26 Nov 2004
Many of the other reviews for this book have criticised it for it's length and "lack of content". However, I found the book very enjoyable for what it is: an introduction to test driven development. TDD can be (and was for me) quite an alien concept for many programmers trained in a traditional way, where testing is often an afterthought. Kent's first example of TDD, while fairly trivial, outlines all the key points in how to practice TDD properly. It also fills you with confidence and makes you think "yeah, I could probably do that".

Perhaps you will feel differently, but I like the book simply because it is short. Huge computing textbooks that cram in too much information annoy me; I rarely have the time to read through such huge tomes or absorb everything they are trying to tell you in one sitting. I was able to read the first part of this book, and attain a reasonable understand of TDD in just over 2 hours.

The book is not terribly expensive either, and sets the stage for further reading on TDD and agile methodologies in general.

I would recommend this book if you are at all interested in TDD.

Denied 1 star only because it's an interesting idea, 27 Sep 2004
I'm going to list my 3 day old copy in the Used section after I've finished writing this review.

This book is in 4 sections, each of which would be a magazine article for any other author:

1. A tiring, trivial example of TDD strung out over a staggering 80 pages in normal Kent-Beck-six-sentences-per-page style.
2. An overview of JUnit, bizarrely documented in Python. Nothing against Python but what's the point when the aim is to understand JUnit, not get a taster in a new language?
3. An brief overview of Design Patterns
4. An brief overview of Refactoring

There is very little new in this book and even less to help with doing it on a real project.

But wait! Before I'm branded an unthinking curmudgeon it's not all bad; for those who have pondered the vexing issue of how to add a parameter to a method then tucked away on page 190 I found this pearl of wisdom:

1. If the method is an interface, add the parameter to it.
2. Add the parameter to the method
3. Use the compiler to show you the calls that need changing

Well what can I say...eureka? Thanks for that Kent, I'll raise it at my next developer meeting but tell'em I thought of it, they'll think me a genius.

How Addison Wesley can put this book in the same class as Martin Fowler's stuff is a mystery, the Fowler books contain more information in the Preface.

beginners guide, 20 Aug 2004
a good intro to testing from an XP sense. It lacks depth and therefore invites you to make you own leap to applying it to concepts not covered in the book.

worthwhile investment, 04 Feb 2004
The overall tone of this review may seem a little negative. Don't be put off. I think that this book is awesome.

I would have to agree with the previous reviewer about mistakes in proof-reading and documented progress vs actual progress in the task list. I would be surprised if the reviewers wrote any code whilst reading the book. That said, this gave me a much better understanding of how TDD should be an essential part of any development. In fact, the discrepancies encountered between the text and trying to follow it with my own code probably gave me more knowledge than if I had just copied what was in the book.

I was happy to see Python in there as I love this language and feel that it is still undervalued by a lot of people. This book almost serves as a very basic introduction to Python (if you bother to write the code) and indeed recommends this approach when learning any new language - it admittedly does help if you know the xUnit (JUnit) design and the use of the Java introspection facilities in the JUnit implementation before looking at how Python handles the same issues. I have used the same approach with a couple of other languages and it certainly makes a refreshing change from the usual Hello World route to getting to some proper applications running.

Some friends that have read the book feel that the style grates a little. I can understand this, but this book has too much to offer to let something like that get in the way of the message. They should try reading Bruce McKinney's HardCore Visual Basic for a book that really has the potential to annoy readers with the author's personality! (Again, I quite like that book)

I found this book a useful intermediate step from not using unit tests as well as I might, to comparing how they are used in some of the Eclipse plug-ins and various other open-source projects. You may not require the additional information that this book provides, but it is usually helpful to have a map when you go somewhere new. I suppose it depends on whether you are happy to stop and ask for directions!

everything you need to know for the exam, 30 Oct 2008
recently took my foundation exam and everything i needed to know was in this book, id almost say that the questions in this book are slightly harder than the questions i encountered in the exam.

like a lot of technical books this is not the easiest book to read and id recommend having small reading sessions as your mind will start switching off if you try to read too much in one session.

read it through, then dip into it at various points that you cant remember, there are chapter review tests at the end of each chapter and a sample exam at the end of the book.

id also recommend taking the tests with a notepad, go through the whole test with your answers, marking the ones your unsure of, then check the answers and recheck the sections you got wrong or just needed to refresh.

so, not the easiest book to read but very thorough and will give you everything you need to pass the exam.

An excellent intro and great substitute for the course, 16 Oct 2008
I've been pretty involved in testing for years but it's never been a full-time job until recently. I was asked to take the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software testing by my boss and this book is the one ISEB and the BCS recommend to go with the exam.

This was a very clearly laid-out book with each concept in bite-sized chunks. The authors clearly draw on their real-life experiences of software testing in the frequent worked examples. Overall, with the revision questions and exercises, it's a very practical book.

I used the revised edition, but there are still a few typos and a couple of munged graphics which could do with tidying up, but they don't detract much from what is otherwise a very polished and concise book.

I was able to take and pass this exam solely on the basis of studying this book, doing the exercises and revision questions and making notes.

If you're planning to do the same, I can thoroughly recommend this book. For the exam, I would also suggest that you concentrate on the "white box" techniques in Chapter 4 and do all the exercises in this chapter. Good luck!

Very Useful, 04 Jun 2008
I can highly recommend this book.

I read the book before doing the course and certification. From the class I can see that the book really help me to in peace and quiteness understand how to do the diagrams for statement-, decision-, and path diagrams. Reading the book before in a decent pace also makes it much easier to cope with the high amount of information giving in the 3 days.

My recommendation for passing the exam is:

1) Read the book
or
2) Read the book and do the class

The book should be mandatory - the course is nice to have (and yes, I did have a VERY good teacher).

Good luck with the certification exam ;)

Excellent Book, 03 May 2008
I was initially given this book to self study for the ISEB exam and had read it before my employer changed her mind and sent me on the 3 day course.

I have to say that this book provides everything that you need to know for the exam. Make sure that you practice things such as Boundary Analysis, Equivalence Partitioning, Data Flows, Decision tables and State Transition if you only have the opportunity to self study. Make sure that you also cover testing tools. Once you have those testing methods fixed in your mind, you are half way there to a successful result. The course that I sat was good but this book covers everything that the course does.

Perfect in style and content, 12 Oct 2007
After recently starting a new job as a software tester, I had no formal experience of the theory and principles of testing and bought this book to help me pass the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing exam. Unlike many text books, I found this book was easy to just sit down and read and the example questions at the end of each section/chapter were spot-on for helping me re-cap on what had been learnt in the previous pages.

My employer put me through an intesive 3-day course for the cerficate in which the knowledge I had already learnt was cemented in my head! After each day at home I used the book as a revision guide, topping up knowledge in those areas I wasn't too confident on. I passed the exam with a Distinction (88%) and would recommend this book to anyone thinking of, or currently working towards this qualification.

Help Me Self Study For Exam, 26 Apr 2007
I have just passed the exam 1st go by self studying. This was one of the two books that I read to revise. I found the format of the book very good, each chapter starts off with a quick 3 question quiz to see what parts of the chapter you need to read. Then you get to the bulk of the information and finally a few test questions so you can see what parts you need to re-read.

Of the two books I used this was the most easy to read and put complex ideas in an easy to understand what they are trying to teach.

Write your test first, 16 Nov 2008
This book could very easily have been written in 1 page.
Write your tests first, and when necessary start with very small steps.
That is it, reading and remembering that, as useful a piece of information as it is, should save you about £25.
Kent Beck manages to string those two ideas over 200 pages, admittedly often very blank pages.
If you can buy it for less than £5 then get it otherwise leave well alone.


Short and sweet, 26 Nov 2004
Many of the other reviews for this book have criticised it for it's length and "lack of content". However, I found the book very enjoyable for what it is: an introduction to test driven development. TDD can be (and was for me) quite an alien concept for many programmers trained in a traditional way, where testing is often an afterthought. Kent's first example of TDD, while fairly trivial, outlines all the key points in how to practice TDD properly. It also fills you with confidence and makes you think "yeah, I could probably do that".

Perhaps you will feel differently, but I like the book simply because it is short. Huge computing textbooks that cram in too much information annoy me; I rarely have the time to read through such huge tomes or absorb everything they are trying to tell you in one sitting. I was able to read the first part of this book, and attain a reasonable understand of TDD in just over 2 hours.

The book is not terribly expensive either, and sets the stage for further reading on TDD and agile methodologies in general.

I would recommend this book if you are at all interested in TDD.

Denied 1 star only because it's an interesting idea, 27 Sep 2004
I'm going to list my 3 day old copy in the Used section after I've finished writing this review.

This book is in 4 sections, each of which would be a magazine article for any other author:

1. A tiring, trivial example of TDD strung out over a staggering 80 pages in normal Kent-Beck-six-sentences-per-page style.
2. An overview of JUnit, bizarrely documented in Python. Nothing against Python but what's the point when the aim is to understand JUnit, not get a taster in a new language?
3. An brief overview of Design Patterns
4. An brief overview of Refactoring

There is very little new in this book and even less to help with doing it on a real project.

But wait! Before I'm branded an unthinking curmudgeon it's not all bad; for those who have pondered the vexing issue of how to add a parameter to a method then tucked away on page 190 I found this pearl of wisdom:

1. If the method is an interface, add the parameter to it.
2. Add the parameter to the method
3. Use the compiler to show you the calls that need changing

Well what can I say...eureka? Thanks for that Kent, I'll raise it at my next developer meeting but tell'em I thought of it, they'll think me a genius.

How Addison Wesley can put this book in the same class as Martin Fowler's stuff is a mystery, the Fowler books contain more information in the Preface.

beginners guide, 20 Aug 2004
a good intro to testing from an XP sense. It lacks depth and therefore invites you to make you own leap to applying it to concepts not covered in the book.

worthwhile investment, 04 Feb 2004
The overall tone of this review may seem a little negative. Don't be put off. I think that this book is awesome.

I would have to agree with the previous reviewer about mistakes in proof-reading and documented progress vs actual progress in the task list. I would be surprised if the reviewers wrote any code whilst reading the book. That said, this gave me a much better understanding of how TDD should be an essential part of any development. In fact, the discrepancies encountered between the text and trying to follow it with my own code probably gave me more knowledge than if I had just copied what was in the book.

I was happy to see Python in there as I love this language and feel that it is still undervalued by a lot of people. This book almost serves as a very basic introduction to Python (if you bother to write the code) and indeed recommends this approach when learning any new language - it admittedly does help if you know the xUnit (JUnit) design and the use of the Java introspection facilities in the JUnit implementation before looking at how Python handles the same issues. I have used the same approach with a couple of other languages and it certainly makes a refreshing change from the usual Hello World route to getting to some proper applications running.

Some friends that have read the book feel that the style grates a little. I can understand this, but this book has too much to offer to let something like that get in the way of the message. They should try reading Bruce McKinney's HardCore Visual Basic for a book that really has the potential to annoy readers with the author's personality! (Again, I quite like that book)

I found this book a useful intermediate step from not using unit tests as well as I might, to comparing how they are used in some of the Eclipse plug-ins and various other open-source projects. You may not require the additional information that this book provides, but it is usually helpful to have a map when you go somewhere new. I suppose it depends on whether you are happy to stop and ask for directions!

everything you need to know for the exam, 30 Oct 2008
recently took my foundation exam and everything i needed to know was in this book, id almost say that the questions in this book are slightly harder than the questions i encountered in the exam.

like a lot of technical books this is not the easiest book to read and id recommend having small reading sessions as your mind will start switching off if you try to read too much in one session.

read it through, then dip into it at various points that you cant remember, there are chapter review tests at the end of each chapter and a sample exam at the end of the book.

id also recommend taking the tests with a notepad, go through the whole test with your answers, marking the ones your unsure of, then check the answers and recheck the sections you got wrong or just needed to refresh.

so, not the easiest book to read but very thorough and will give you everything you need to pass the exam.

Valuable but Flabby and Vague, 11 Jul 2008
The central problem of this book is that in order to justify the 'Patterns' part of the title the author has to abstract the material almost beyond the point of usefulness. Unless you have already discovered most of the techniques the author describes you will be hard pressed to understand his description of them, which does take away the point of buying the book. There is a lot of valuable material hiding in this book, in particular the taxonomy of Mocks / Test Doubles, but you have to work to find it. At over 800 pages the very size of the book is intimidating. Its hard not to contrast this book unfavorably with Next Generation Java Testing: TestNG and Advanced Concepts which explores the same material in a much more practical, focused and helpful manner.

All the important unit testing patterns and principles, but over-long, 04 Aug 2007
Let me start by stating the obvious: this is a patterns book about the organisation of tests and the workings of the xUnit family of unit testing frameworks. It is _not_ a book about Test Driven Development, although there is material that is pertinent to that. Given that the use of JUnit and TDD is pretty intertwined in the minds of many Java developers, it's worth making this distinction, so you know what sort of book you're getting. Speaking of JUnit, most of the code examples uses Java, although there are some examples in C#, VB and Ruby.

Like Martin Fowler's Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture, the book is split into two main sections, a narrative that weaves together a lot of the patterns and strategies, and then a catalogue of individual patterns. Between the two, there is a catalogue of 'test smells', similar to the 'code smells' discussed by Fowler in Refactoring, which I would suggest can be read profitably with the narrative section, rather than used as reference material.

There are a lot of patterns here on the mechanics of xUnit, such as 'Test Runner', 'Garbage-Collected Teardown' and 'Named Test Suite'. I was a bit confused about who this material is aimed at -- maybe someone looking at porting xUnit to a new programming language would find it useful, but a lot of it is fairly obvious to anyone who's used an xUnit in a non-trivial fashion (and certainly, if you haven't done so, this book is not a format that makes for a good introduction), or requires playing against xUnit's strengths (e.g. not putting setup and teardown code in their eponymous methods), although there is good reason for doing so in some of the examples provided, such as databases.

Beyond this, there is some good stuff on design-for-testability patterns (e.g. dependency injection versus dependency lookup), value patterns to replace magic constants, custom assertions and custom creation and other utility methods to make the intent of tests more clear. This material, along with the test smells chapter, is where the real value of the book lies. It encourages the application of the same software engineering principles you would apply to your applications (encapsulation, intent-revealing names, Don't Repeat Yourself) as you would to your testing code, something that's surprisingly easy to overlook, at least in my experience.

Also, the material on 'Test Doubles' (mocks, stubs, dummies and their ilk) is extremely useful. It touches on designing with mocks only superficially, but it does provide a helpful taxonomy of what different classes of doubles do. Now, if only everyone would standardise on this nomenclature, it would make life a lot easier. I suggest we brandish this enormous book threateningly at anyone who refuses to toe the line, and that should do the trick.

Because, boy, this book is big (about 900 pages). To be honest, it's too big. I rarely complain about getting too much book for my money, but the likes of the original GoF Design Patterns book, PoEAA and Patterns of Software Architecture Volume 1 manage to come in between 400-500ish pages, so there's no reason XTP couldn't. The advantage is that the patterns in the catalogue, which take up most of the space, stand alone, without requiring too much flicking backwards and forwards between patterns.

The disadvantage is that there is a lot of repetition, so unlike the three design patterns books I mentioned above, which I suspect most people read cover to cover (or maybe that was just me and I'm a complete freak), I would suggest only dipping into the catalogue as necessary. For instance, how much difference is there between the 'Testcase Class per Class', 'Testcase Class per Feature' and the 'Testcase Class per Fixture' patterns? Not a lot, as you might expect.

I definitely liked this book. I would have liked it even more if it came in at about half its size and I would have preferred more emphasis on test and assertion organisation than the mechanics of the xUnit framework, but maybe that would have been a different type of book to the one Gerard Meszaros intended. This is nonetheless a must buy for anyone who cares about unit testing.

An excellent intro and great substitute for the course, 16 Oct 2008
I've been pretty involved in testing for years but it's never been a full-time job until recently. I was asked to take the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software testing by my boss and this book is the one ISEB and the BCS recommend to go with the exam.

This was a very clearly laid-out book with each concept in bite-sized chunks. The authors clearly draw on their real-life experiences of software testing in the frequent worked examples. Overall, with the revision questions and exercises, it's a very practical book.

I used the revised edition, but there are still a few typos and a couple of munged graphics which could do with tidying up, but they don't detract much from what is otherwise a very polished and concise book.

I was able to take and pass this exam solely on the basis of studying this book, doing the exercises and revision questions and making notes.

If you're planning to do the same, I can thoroughly recommend this book. For the exam, I would also suggest that you concentrate on the "white box" techniques in Chapter 4 and do all the exercises in this chapter. Good luck!

Very Useful, 04 Jun 2008
I can highly recommend this book.

I read the book before doing the course and certification. From the class I can see that the book really help me to in peace and quiteness understand how to do the diagrams for statement-, decision-, and path diagrams. Reading the book before in a decent pace also makes it much easier to cope with the high amount of information giving in the 3 days.

My recommendation for passing the exam is:

1) Read the book
or
2) Read the book and do the class

The book should be mandatory - the course is nice to have (and yes, I did have a VERY good teacher).

Good luck with the certification exam ;)

Excellent Book, 03 May 2008
I was initially given this book to self study for the ISEB exam and had read it before my employer changed her mind and sent me on the 3 day course.

I have to say that this book provides everything that you need to know for the exam. Make sure that you practice things such as Boundary Analysis, Equivalence Partitioning, Data Flows, Decision tables and State Transition if you only have the opportunity to self study. Make sure that you also cover testing tools. Once you have those testing methods fixed in your mind, you are half way there to a successful result. The course that I sat was good but this book covers everything that the course does.

Perfect in style and content, 12 Oct 2007
After recently starting a new job as a software tester, I had no formal experience of the theory and principles of testing and bought this book to help me pass the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing exam. Unlike many text books, I found this book was easy to just sit down and read and the example questions at the end of each section/chapter were spot-on for helping me re-cap on what had been learnt in the previous pages.

My employer put me through an intesive 3-day course for the cerficate in which the knowledge I had already learnt was cemented in my head! After each day at home I used the book as a revision guide, topping up knowledge in those areas I wasn't too confident on. I passed the exam with a Distinction (88%) and would recommend this book to anyone thinking of, or currently working towards this qualification.

Help Me Self Study For Exam, 26 Apr 2007
I have just passed the exam 1st go by self studying. This was one of the two books that I read to revise. I found the format of the book very good, each chapter starts off with a quick 3 question quiz to see what parts of the chapter you need to read. Then you get to the bulk of the information and finally a few test questions so you can see what parts you need to re-read.

Of the two books I used this was the most easy to read and put complex ideas in an easy to understand what they are trying to teach.

Write your test first, 16 Nov 2008
This book could very easily have been written in 1 page.
Write your tests first, and when necessary start with very small steps.
That is it, reading and remembering that, as useful a piece of information as it is, should save you about £25.
Kent Beck manages to string those two ideas over 200 pages, admittedly often very blank pages.
If you can buy it for less than £5 then get it otherwise leave well alone.


Short and sweet, 26 Nov 2004
Many of the other reviews for this book have criticised it for it's length and "lack of content". However, I found the book very enjoyable for what it is: an introduction to test driven development. TDD can be (and was for me) quite an alien concept for many programmers trained in a traditional way, where testing is often an afterthought. Kent's first example of TDD, while fairly trivial, outlines all the key points in how to practice TDD properly. It also fills you with confidence and makes you think "yeah, I could probably do that".

Perhaps you will feel differently, but I like the book simply because it is short. Huge computing textbooks that cram in too much information annoy me; I rarely have the time to read through such huge tomes or absorb everything they are trying to tell you in one sitting. I was able to read the first part of this book, and attain a reasonable understand of TDD in just over 2 hours.

The book is not terribly expensive either, and sets the stage for further reading on TDD and agile methodologies in general.

I would recommend this book if you are at all interested in TDD.

Denied 1 star only because it's an interesting idea, 27 Sep 2004
I'm going to list my 3 day old copy in the Used section after I've finished writing this review.

This book is in 4 sections, each of which would be a magazine article for any other author:

1. A tiring, trivial example of TDD strung out over a staggering 80 pages in normal Kent-Beck-six-sentences-per-page style.
2. An overview of JUnit, bizarrely documented in Python. Nothing against Python but what's the point when the aim is to understand JUnit, not get a taster in a new language?
3. An brief overview of Design Patterns
4. An brief overview of Refactoring

There is very little new in this book and even less to help with doing it on a real project.

But wait! Before I'm branded an unthinking curmudgeon it's not all bad; for those who have pondered the vexing issue of how to add a parameter to a method then tucked away on page 190 I found this pearl of wisdom:

1. If the method is an interface, add the parameter to it.
2. Add the parameter to the method
3. Use the compiler to show you the calls that need changing

Well what can I say...eureka? Thanks for that Kent, I'll raise it at my next developer meeting but tell'em I thought of it, they'll think me a genius.

How Addison Wesley can put this book in the same class as Martin Fowler's stuff is a mystery, the Fowler books contain more information in the Preface.

beginners guide, 20 Aug 2004
a good intro to testing from an XP sense. It lacks depth and therefore invites you to make you own leap to applying it to concepts not covered in the book.

worthwhile investment, 04 Feb 2004
The overall tone of this review may seem a little negative. Don't be put off. I think that this book is awesome.

I would have to agree with the previous reviewer about mistakes in proof-reading and documented progress vs actual progress in the task list. I would be surprised if the reviewers wrote any code whilst reading the book. That said, this gave me a much better understanding of how TDD should be an essential part of any development. In fact, the discrepancies encountered between the text and trying to follow it with my own code probably gave me more knowledge than if I had just copied what was in the book.

I was happy to see Python in there as I love this language and feel that it is still undervalued by a lot of people. This book almost serves as a very basic introduction to Python (if you bother to write the code) and indeed recommends this approach when learning any new language - it admittedly does help if you know the xUnit (JUnit) design and the use of the Java introspection facilities in the JUnit implementation before looking at how Python handles the same issues. I have used the same approach with a couple of other languages and it certainly makes a refreshing change from the usual Hello World route to getting to some proper applications running.

Some friends that have read the book feel that the style grates a little. I can understand this, but this book has too much to offer to let something like that get in the way of the message. They should try reading Bruce McKinney's HardCore Visual Basic for a book that really has the potential to annoy readers with the author's personality! (Again, I quite like that book)

I found this book a useful intermediate step from not using unit tests as well as I might, to comparing how they are used in some of the Eclipse plug-ins and various other open-source projects. You may not require the additional information that this book provides, but it is usually helpful to have a map when you go somewhere new. I suppose it depends on whether you are happy to stop and ask for directions!

everything you need to know for the exam, 30 Oct 2008
recently took my foundation exam and everything i needed to know was in this book, id almost say that the questions in this book are slightly harder than the questions i encountered in the exam.

like a lot of technical books this is not the easiest book to read and id recommend having small reading sessions as your mind will start switching off if you try to read too much in one session.

read it through, then dip into it at various points that you cant remember, there are chapter review tests at the end of each chapter and a sample exam at the end of the book.

id also recommend taking the tests with a notepad, go through the whole test with your answers, marking the ones your unsure of, then check the answers and recheck the sections you got wrong or just needed to refresh.

so, not the easiest book to read but very thorough and will give you everything you need to pass the exam.

Valuable but Flabby and Vague, 11 Jul 2008
The central problem of this book is that in order to justify the 'Patterns' part of the title the author has to abstract the material almost beyond the point of usefulness. Unless you have already discovered most of the techniques the author describes you will be hard pressed to understand his description of them, which does take away the point of buying the book. There is a lot of valuable material hiding in this book, in particular the taxonomy of Mocks / Test Doubles, but you have to work to find it. At over 800 pages the very size of the book is intimidating. Its hard not to contrast this book unfavorably with Next Generation Java Testing: TestNG and Advanced Concepts which explores the same material in a much more practical, focused and helpful manner.

All the important unit testing patterns and principles, but over-long, 04 Aug 2007
Let me start by stating the obvious: this is a patterns book about the organisation of tests and the workings of the xUnit family of unit testing frameworks. It is _not_ a book about Test Driven Development, although there is material that is pertinent to that. Given that the use of JUnit and TDD is pretty intertwined in the minds of many Java developers, it's worth making this distinction, so you know what sort of book you're getting. Speaking of JUnit, most of the code examples uses Java, although there are some examples in C#, VB and Ruby.

Like Martin Fowler's Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture, the book is split into two main sections, a narrative that weaves together a lot of the patterns and strategies, and then a catalogue of individual patterns. Between the two, there is a catalogue of 'test smells', similar to the 'code smells' discussed by Fowler in Refactoring, which I would suggest can be read profitably with the narrative section, rather than used as reference material.

There are a lot of patterns here on the mechanics of xUnit, such as 'Test Runner', 'Garbage-Collected Teardown' and 'Named Test Suite'. I was a bit confused about who this material is aimed at -- maybe someone looking at porting xUnit to a new programming language would find it useful, but a lot of it is fairly obvious to anyone who's used an xUnit in a non-trivial fashion (and certainly, if you haven't done so, this book is not a format that makes for a good introduction), or requires playing against xUnit's strengths (e.g. not putting setup and teardown code in their eponymous methods), although there is good reason for doing so in some of the examples provided, such as databases.

Beyond this, there is some good stuff on design-for-testability patterns (e.g. dependency injection versus dependency lookup), value patterns to replace magic constants, custom assertions and custom creation and other utility methods to make the intent of tests more clear. This material, along with the test smells chapter, is where the real value of the book lies. It encourages the application of the same software engineering principles you would apply to your applications (encapsulation, intent-revealing names, Don't Repeat Yourself) as you would to your testing code, something that's surprisingly easy to overlook, at least in my experience.

Also, the material on 'Test Doubles' (mocks, stubs, dummies and their ilk) is extremely useful. It touches on designing with mocks only superficially, but it does provide a helpful taxonomy of what different classes of doubles do. Now, if only everyone would standardise on this nomenclature, it would make life a lot easier. I suggest we brandish this enormous book threateningly at anyone who refuses to toe the line, and that should do the trick.

Because, boy, this book is big (about 900 pages). To be honest, it's too big. I rarely complain about getting too much book for my money, but the likes of the original GoF Design Patterns book, PoEAA and Patterns of Software Architecture Volume 1 manage to come in between 400-500ish pages, so there's no reason XTP couldn't. The advantage is that the patterns in the catalogue, which take up most of the space, stand alone, without requiring too much flicking backwards and forwards between patterns.

The disadvantage is that there is a lot of repetition, so unlike the three design patterns books I mentioned above, which I suspect most people read cover to cover (or maybe that was just me and I'm a complete freak), I would suggest only dipping into the catalogue as necessary. For instance, how much difference is there between the 'Testcase Class per Class', 'Testcase Class per Feature' and the 'Testcase Class per Fixture' patterns? Not a lot, as you might expect.

I definitely liked this book. I would have liked it even more if it came in at about half its size and I would have preferred more emphasis on test and assertion organisation than the mechanics of the xUnit framework, but maybe that would have been a different type of book to the one Gerard Meszaros intended. This is nonetheless a must buy for anyone who cares about unit testing.

Like sitting down and chatting with the authors, 26 Jul 2007
When I first skimmed through the book I thought, oh great a whole bunch of incomplete views that they couldn't make a book out of, then realising they'd made a book out of it, sneaky.

As I read through some of the individual lessons, made easy as all 293 are listed out under handy topic headings in the table of contents, I realised that what this book actually provides. It gives you 293 across the desk brief mentoring sessions that you wish you could with some guru like character. This book is like having Kaner, Bach or Pettichord sat there working with you, answering your questions in a thought provoking and considered way. You may not agree completely with the authors views and that's a good thing, lesson 294.

Typical lessons are ones such as number 32, "You discover requirements by conference, inference and reference", provide useful insight over a few paragraphs that will help you approach this area with more options for getting requirements in hand. However, the whole book isn't like this and in fact the end of chapter three's Addendum to Techniques is 19 pages of step by step examples, usable lists and definitions that reminded me of content in Kaner et al Testing Computer Software.

This book isn't a comprehensive guide to software testing. If you're totally green some of the content might appear to lack a cohesive structure, you may not find links you expect. If however you've got some background in this domain it'll serve to compliment and possibly challenge your views. Sometimes this book serves to tell you that in fact you're approach is right in your testing context, make that lesson 295.

If you're in need of guidance and looking for a lightweight collection of ideas around a particular topic such as test techniques, automation or test documents then this is a great book to get a useful idea of the topic. If you want to get some thoughts clear in your mind or get extra vocabulary for discussing topics you already know, then again this book will provide that and some new perspectives to boot.

An enjoyable, readable and useful book that wont disappoint.


Indispensable book on software testing - Profis Ltd review, 01 May 2006
A 'must have' for anyone studying for the ISEB exams.

This is one of those rare finds that covers the whole spectrum of software testing - from the role of the tester to test design and planning.

Broken into 293 'lessons' it puts across many gems in an entertaining and easy to read style - unlike many books on testing which tend to be very dry.

The experienced tester and those just starting in the profession will find something of value in these pages.

Just the kind of testing book we needed!, 22 Jan 2002
This book's great, nearly 300 'bite-sized' practical lessons about testing! The wonderful thing is, you can dip in at any time and take away something useful - I recommend this for anyone involved in testing (or anyone concerned about quality!).

An excellent intro and great substitute for the course, 16 Oct 2008
I've been pretty involved in testing for years but it's never been a full-time job until recently. I was asked to take the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software testing by my boss and this book is the one ISEB and the BCS recommend to go with the exam.

This was a very clearly laid-out book with each concept in bite-sized chunks. The authors clearly draw on their real-life experiences of software testing in the frequent worked examples. Overall, with the revision questions and exercises, it's a very practical book.

I used the revised edition, but there are still a few typos and a couple of munged graphics which could do with tidying up, but they don't detract much from what is otherwise a very polished and concise book.

I was able to take and pass this exam solely on the basis of studying this book, doing the exercises and revision questions and making notes.

If you're planning to do the same, I can thoroughly recommend this book. For the exam, I would also suggest that you concentrate on the "white box" techniques in Chapter 4 and do all the exercises in this chapter. Good luck!

Very Useful, 04 Jun 2008
I can highly recommend this book.

I read the book before doing the course and certification. From the class I can see that the book really help me to in peace and quiteness understand how to do the diagrams for statement-, decision-, and path diagrams. Reading the book before in a decent pace also makes it much easier to cope with the high amount of information giving in the 3 days.

My recommendation for passing the exam is:

1) Read the book
or
2) Read the book and do the class

The book should be mandatory - the course is nice to have (and yes, I did have a VERY good teacher).

Good luck with the certification exam ;)

Excellent Book, 03 May 2008
I was initially given this book to self study for the ISEB exam and had read it before my employer changed her mind and sent me on the 3 day course.

I have to say that this book provides everything that you need to know for the exam. Make sure that you practice things such as Boundary Analysis, Equivalence Partitioning, Data Flows, Decision tables and State Transition if you only have the opportunity to self study. Make sure that you also cover testing tools. Once you have those testing methods fixed in your mind, you are half way there to a successful result. The course that I sat was good but this book covers everything that the course does.

Perfect in style and content, 12 Oct 2007
After recently starting a new job as a software tester, I had no formal experience of the theory and principles of testing and bought this book to help me pass the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing exam. Unlike many text books, I found this book was easy to just sit down and read and the example questions at the end of each section/chapter were spot-on for helping me re-cap on what had been learnt in the previous pages.

My employer put me through an intesive 3-day course for the cerficate in which the knowledge I had already learnt was cemented in my head! After each day at home I used the book as a revision guide, topping up knowledge in those areas I wasn't too confident on. I passed the exam with a Distinction (88%) and would recommend this book to anyone thinking of, or currently working towards this qualification.

Help Me Self Study For Exam, 26 Apr 2007
I have just passed the exam 1st go by self studying. This was one of the two books that I read to revise. I found the format of the book very good, each chapter starts off with a quick 3 question quiz to see what parts of the chapter you need to read. Then you get to the bulk of the information and finally a few test questions so you can see what parts you need to re-read.

Of the two books I used this was the most easy to read and put complex ideas in an easy to understand what they are trying to teach.

Write your test first, 16 Nov 2008
This book could very easily have been written in 1 page.
Write your tests first, and when necessary start with very small steps.
That is it, reading and remembering that, as useful a piece of information as it is, should save you about £25.
Kent Beck manages to string those two ideas over 200 pages, admittedly often very blank pages.
If you can buy it for less than £5 then get it otherwise leave well alone.


Short and sweet, 26 Nov 2004
Many of the other reviews for this book have criticised it for it's length and "lack of content". However, I found the book very enjoyable for what it is: an introduction to test driven development. TDD can be (and was for me) quite an alien concept for many programmers trained in a traditional way, where testing is often an afterthought. Kent's first example of TDD, while fairly trivial, outlines all the key points in how to practice TDD properly. It also fills you with confidence and makes you think "yeah, I could probably do that".

Perhaps you will feel differently, but I like the book simply because it is short. Huge computing textbooks that cram in too much information annoy me; I rarely have the time to read through such huge tomes or absorb everything they are trying to tell you in one sitting. I was able to read the first part of this book, and attain a reasonable understand of TDD in just over 2 hours.

The book is not terribly expensive either, and sets the stage for further reading on TDD and agile methodologies in general.

I would recommend this book if you are at all interested in TDD.

Denied 1 star only because it's an interesting idea, 27 Sep 2004
I'm going to list my 3 day old copy in the Used section after I've finished writing this review.

This book is in 4 sections, each of which would be a magazine article for any other author:

1. A tiring, trivial example of TDD strung out over a staggering 80 pages in normal Kent-Beck-six-sentences-per-page style.
2. An overview of JUnit, bizarrely documented in Python. Nothing against Python but what's the point when the aim is to understand JUnit, not get a taster in a new language?
3. An brief overview of Design Patterns
4. An brief overview of Refactoring

There is very little new in this book and even less to help with doing it on a real project.

But wait! Before I'm branded an unthinking curmudgeon it's not all bad; for those who have pondered the vexing issue of how to add a parameter to a method then tucked away on page 190 I found this pearl of wisdom:

1. If the method is an interface, add the parameter to it.
2. Add the parameter to the method
3. Use the compiler to show you the calls that need changing

Well what can I say...eureka? Thanks for that Kent, I'll raise it at my next developer meeting but tell'em I thought of it, they'll think me a genius.

How Addison Wesley can put this book in the same class as Martin Fowler's stuff is a mystery, the Fowler books contain more information in the Preface.

beginners guide, 20 Aug 2004
a good intro to testing from an XP sense. It lacks depth and therefore invites you to make you own leap to applying it to concepts not covered in the book.

worthwhile investment, 04 Feb 2004
The overall tone of this review may seem a little negative. Don't be put off. I think that this book is awesome.

I would have to agree with the previous reviewer about mistakes in proof-reading and documented progress vs actual progress in the task list. I would be surprised if the reviewers wrote any code whilst reading the book. That said, this gave me a much better understanding of how TDD should be an essential part of any development. In fact, the discrepancies encountered between the text and trying to follow it with my own code probably gave me more knowledge than if I had just copied what was in the book.

I was happy to see Python in there as I love this language and feel that it is still undervalued by a lot of people. This book almost serves as a very basic introduction to Python (if you bother to write the code) and indeed recommends this approach when learning any new language - it admittedly does help if you know the xUnit (JUnit) design and the use of the Java introspection facilities in the JUnit implementation before looking at how Python handles the same issues. I have used the same approach with a couple of other languages and it certainly makes a refreshing change from the usual Hello World route to getting to some proper applications running.

Some friends that have read the book feel that the style grates a little. I can understand this, but this book has too much to offer to let something like that get in the way of the message. They should try reading Bruce McKinney's HardCore Visual Basic for a book that really has the potential to annoy readers with the author's personality! (Again, I quite like that book)

I found this book a useful intermediate step from not using unit tests as well as I might, to comparing how they are used in some of the Eclipse plug-ins and various other open-source projects. You may not require the additional information that this book provides, but it is usually helpful to have a map when you go somewhere new. I suppose it depends on whether you are happy to stop and ask for directions!

everything you need to know for the exam, 30 Oct 2008
recently took my foundation exam and everything i needed to know was in this book, id almost say that the questions in this book are slightly harder than the questions i encountered in the exam.

like a lot of technical books this is not the easiest book to read and id recommend having small reading sessions as your mind will start switching off if you try to read too much in one session.

read it through, then dip into it at various points that you cant remember, there are chapter review tests at the end of each chapter and a sample exam at the end of the book.

id also recommend taking the tests with a notepad, go through the whole test with your answers, marking the ones your unsure of, then check the answers and recheck the sections you got wrong or just needed to refresh.

so, not the easiest book to read but very thorough and will give you everything you need to pass the exam.

Valuable but Flabby and Vague, 11 Jul 2008
The central problem of this book is that in order to justify the 'Patterns' part of the title the author has to abstract the material almost beyond the point of usefulness. Unless you have already discovered most of the techniques the author describes you will be hard pressed to understand his description of them, which does take away the point of buying the book. There is a lot of valuable material hiding in this book, in particular the taxonomy of Mocks / Test Doubles, but you have to work to find it. At over 800 pages the very size of the book is intimidating. Its hard not to contrast this book unfavorably with Next Generation Java Testing: TestNG and Advanced Concepts which explores the same material in a much more practical, focused and helpful manner.

All the important unit testing patterns and principles, but over-long, 04 Aug 2007
Let me start by stating the obvious: this is a patterns book about the organisation of tests and the workings of the xUnit family of unit testing frameworks. It is _not_ a book about Test Driven Development, although there is material that is pertinent to that. Given that the use of JUnit and TDD is pretty intertwined in the minds of many Java developers, it's worth making this distinction, so you know what sort of book you're getting. Speaking of JUnit, most of the code examples uses Java, although there are some examples in C#, VB and Ruby.

Like Martin Fowler's Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture, the book is split into two main sections, a narrative that weaves together a lot of the patterns and strategies, and then a catalogue of individual patterns. Between the two, there is a catalogue of 'test smells', similar to the 'code smells' discussed by Fowler in Refactoring, which I would suggest can be read profitably with the narrative section, rather than used as reference material.

There are a lot of patterns here on the mechanics of xUnit, such as 'Test Runner', 'Garbage-Collected Teardown' and 'Named Test Suite'. I was a bit confused about who this material is aimed at -- maybe someone looking at porting xUnit to a new programming language would find it useful, but a lot of it is fairly obvious to anyone who's used an xUnit in a non-trivial fashion (and certainly, if you haven't done so, this book is not a format that makes for a good introduction), or requires playing against xUnit's strengths (e.g. not putting setup and teardown code in their eponymous methods), although there is good reason for doing so in some of the examples provided, such as databases.

Beyond this, there is some good stuff on design-for-testability patterns (e.g. dependency injection versus dependency lookup), value patterns to replace magic constants, custom assertions and custom creation and other utility methods to make the intent of tests more clear. This material, along with the test smells chapter, is where the real value of the book lies. It encourages the application of the same software engineering principles you would apply to your applications (encapsulation, intent-revealing names, Don't Repeat Yourself) as you would to your testing code, something that's surprisingly easy to overlook, at least in my experience.

Also, the material on 'Test Doubles' (mocks, stubs, dummies and their ilk) is extremely useful. It touches on designing with mocks only superficially, but it does provide a helpful taxonomy of what different classes of doubles do. Now, if only everyone would standardise on this nomenclature, it would make life a lot easier. I suggest we brandish this enormous book threateningly at anyone who refuses to toe the line, and that should do the trick.

Because, boy, this book is big (about 900 pages). To be honest, it's too big. I rarely complain about getting too much book for my money, but the likes of the original GoF Design Patterns book, PoEAA and Patterns of Software Architecture Volume 1 manage to come in between 400-500ish pages, so there's no reason XTP couldn't. The advantage is that the patterns in the catalogue, which take up most of the space, stand alone, without requiring too much flicking backwards and forwards between patterns.

The disadvantage is that there is a lot of repetition, so unlike the three design patterns books I mentioned above, which I suspect most people read cover to cover (or maybe that was just me and I'm a complete freak), I would suggest only dipping into the catalogue as necessary. For instance, how much difference is there between the 'Testcase Class per Class', 'Testcase Class per Feature' and the 'Testcase Class per Fixture' patterns? Not a lot, as you might expect.

I definitely liked this book. I would have liked it even more if it came in at about half its size and I would have preferred more emphasis on test and assertion organisation than the mechanics of the xUnit framework, but maybe that would have been a different type of book to the one Gerard Meszaros intended. This is nonetheless a must buy for anyone who cares about unit testing.

Like sitting down and chatting with the authors, 26 Jul 2007
When I first skimmed through the book I thought, oh great a whole bunch of incomplete views that they couldn't make a book out of, then realising they'd made a book out of it, sneaky.

As I read through some of the individual lessons, made easy as all 293 are listed out under handy topic headings in the table of contents, I realised that what this book actually provides. It gives you 293 across the desk brief mentoring sessions that you wish you could with some guru like character. This book is like having Kaner, Bach or Pettichord sat there working with you, answering your questions in a thought provoking and considered way. You may not agree completely with the authors views and that's a good thing, lesson 294.

Typical lessons are ones such as number 32, "You discover requirements by conference, inference and reference", provide useful insight over a few paragraphs that will help you approach this area with more options for getting requirements in hand. However, the whole book isn't like this and in fact the end of chapter three's Addendum to Techniques is 19 pages of step by step examples, usable lists and definitions that reminded me of content in Kaner et al Testing Computer Software.

This book isn't a comprehensive guide to software testing. If you're totally green some of the content might appear to lack a cohesive structure, you may not find links you expect. If however you've got some background in this domain it'll serve to compliment and possibly challenge your views. Sometimes this book serves to tell you that in fact you're approach is right in your testing context, make that lesson 295.

If you're in need of guidance and looking for a lightweight collection of ideas around a particular topic such as test techniques, automation or test documents then this is a great book to get a useful idea of the topic. If you want to get some thoughts clear in your mind or get extra vocabulary for discussing topics you already know, then again this book will provide that and some new perspectives to boot.

An enjoyable, readable and useful book that wont disappoint.


Indispensable book on software testing - Profis Ltd review, 01 May 2006
A 'must have' for anyone studying for the ISEB exams.

This is one of those rare finds that covers the whole spectrum of software testing - from the role of the tester to test design and planning.

Broken into 293 'lessons' it puts across many gems in an entertaining and easy to read style - unlike many books on testing which tend to be very dry.

The experienced tester and those just starting in the profession will find something of value in these pages.

Just the kind of testing book we needed!, 22 Jan 2002
This book's great, nearly 300 'bite-sized' practical lessons about testing! The wonderful thing is, you can dip in at any time and take away something useful - I recommend this for anyone involved in testing (or anyone concerned about quality!).

A great intro to patterns, frameworks, testing and more, 08 Jun 2008
I recently received a copy of this book to review from the publisher and thought I would post a quick review here.

The book covers a variety of topics and manages to fit everything in to a little over 300 pages. As such, although each section is a good introduction to the topic being discussed, it is only an introduction. If you're looking to get this book as a complete reference to one particular subject covered there may be better books available. Taking this book for what it is though you are not going to be disappointed. It is very well written, repetition is kept to a minimum and the examples are easy to follow. I haven't tested all the code samples but if they have been checked as well as the text then errors are unlikely to be present.

The OOP and Patterns section is a nice introduction to the subject and added detail to my understanding of some areas.

The Testing and Documentation section is the only section I found less than entirely satisfying. That isn't to say that what's there isn't very good, but that I would have liked to see more discussion of testing and less on documentation.

The SPL section gives a very nice introduction to an area with less than stellar documentation. If you want to search around you can find the first chapter of this section on the devzone over at Zend.

The section on the MVC pattern quickly focuses on the Zend framework. The discussion quickly moves away from the MVC pattern to touch on other areas of the Zend framework so in one sense the title for the section is slightly misleading. It is a very good introduction to a selection of the most important pieces of functionality present in the Zend framework though so I certainly wasn't disappointed.

Finally the book moves on to touching on a variety of subjects you may be interested in. AJAX, web services and certificate authentication are all given some attention. The chapter on certificate authentication is freely available on the publishers website.

Star ratings are always difficult to get right but for me the content is an easy 4 stars, which I'm taking to mean recommended, and the writing a comfortable 5 stars.


Awesome book, 28 Mar 2008
This is an awesome book, shame I didn't get a mention in the credits and acknowledgements.

/me sporks StormTide

An excellent intro and great substitute for the course, 16 Oct 2008
I've been pretty involved in testing for years but it's never been a full-time job until recently. I was asked to take the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software testing by my boss and this book is the one ISEB and the BCS recommend to go with the exam.

This was a very clearly laid-out book with each concept in bite-sized chunks. The authors clearly draw on their real-life experiences of software testing in the frequent worked examples. Overall, with the revision questions and exercises, it's a very practical book.

I used the revised edition, but there are still a few typos and a couple of munged graphics which could do with tidying up, but they don't detract much from what is otherwise a very polished and concise book.

I was able to take and pass this exam solely on the basis of studying this book, doing the exercises and revision questions and making notes.

If you're planning to do the same, I can thoroughly recommend this book. For the exam, I would also suggest that you concentrate on the "white box" techniques in Chapter 4 and do all the exercises in this chapter. Good luck!

Very Useful, 04 Jun 2008
I can highly recommend this book.

I read the book before doing the course and certification. From the class I can see that the book really help me to in peace and quiteness understand how to do the diagrams for statement-, decision-, and path diagrams. Reading the book before in a decent pace also makes it much easier to cope with the high amount of information giving in the 3 days.

My recommendation for passing the exam is:

1) Read the book
or
2) Read the book and do the class

The book should be mandatory - the course is nice to have (and yes, I did have a VERY good teacher).

Good luck with the certification exam ;)

Excellent Book, 03 May 2008
I was initially given this book to self study for the ISEB exam and had read it before my employer changed her mind and sent me on the 3 day course.

I have to say that this book provides everything that you need to know for the exam. Make sure that you practice things such as Boundary Analysis, Equivalence Partitioning, Data Flows, Decision tables and State Transition if you only have the opportunity to self study. Make sure that you also cover testing tools. Once you have those testing methods fixed in your mind, you are half way there to a successful result. The course that I sat was good but this book covers everything that the course does.

Perfect in style and content, 12 Oct 2007
After recently starting a new job as a software tester, I had no formal experience of the theory and principles of testing and bought this book to help me pass the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing exam. Unlike many text books, I found this book was easy to just sit down and read and the example questions at the end of each section/chapter were spot-on for helping me re-cap on what had been learnt in the previous pages.

My employer put me through an intesive 3-day course for the cerficate in which the knowledge I had already learnt was cemented in my head! After each day at home I used the book as a revision guide, topping up knowledge in those areas I wasn't too confident on. I passed the exam with a Distinction (88%) and would recommend this book to anyone thinking of, or currently working towards this qualification.

Help Me Self Study For Exam, 26 Apr 2007
I have just passed the exam 1st go by self studying. This was one of the two books that I read to revise. I found the format of the book very good, each chapter starts off with a quick 3 question quiz to see what parts of the chapter you need to read. Then you get to the bulk of the information and finally a few test questions so you can see what parts you need to re-read.

Of the two books I used this was the most easy to read and put complex ideas in an easy to understand what they are trying to teach.

Write your test first, 16 Nov 2008
This book could very easily have been written in 1 page.
Write your tests first, and when necessary start with very small steps.
That is it, reading and remembering that, as useful a piece of information as it is, should save you about £25.
Kent Beck manages to string those two ideas over 200 pages, admittedly often very blank pages.
If you can buy it for less than £5 then get it otherwise leave well alone.


Short and sweet, 26 Nov 2004
Many of the other reviews for this book have criticised it for it's length and "lack of content". However, I found the book very enjoyable for what it is: an introduction to test driven development. TDD can be (and was for me) quite an alien concept for many programmers trained in a traditional way, where testing is often an afterthought. Kent's first example of TDD, while fairly trivial, outlines all the key points in how to practice TDD properly. It also fills you with confidence and makes you think "yeah, I could probably do that".

Perhaps you will feel differently, but I like the book simply because it is short. Huge computing textbooks that cram in too much information annoy me; I rarely have the time to read through such huge tomes or absorb everything they are trying to tell you in one sitting. I was able to read the first part of this book, and attain a reasonable understand of TDD in just over 2 hours.

The book is not terribly expensive either, and sets the stage for further reading on TDD and agile methodologies in general.

I would recommend this book if you are at all interested in TDD.

Denied 1 star only because it's an interesting idea, 27 Sep 2004
I'm going to list my 3 day old copy in the Used section after I've finished writing this review.

This book is in 4 sections, each of which would be a magazine article for any other author:

1. A tiring, trivial example of TDD strung out over a staggering 80 pages in normal Kent-Beck-six-sentences-per-page style.
2. An overview of JUnit, bizarrely documented in Python. Nothing against Python but what's the point when the aim is to understand JUnit, not get a taster in a new language?
3. An brief overview of Design Patterns
4. An brief overview of Refactoring

There is very little new in this book and even less to help with doing it on a real project.

But wait! Before I'm branded an unthinking curmudgeon it's not all bad; for those who have pondered the vexing issue of how to add a parameter to a method then tucked away on page 190 I found this pearl of wisdom:

1. If the method is an interface, add the parameter to it.
2. Add the parameter to the method
3. Use the compiler to show you the calls that need changing

Well what can I say...eureka? Thanks for that Kent, I'll raise it at my next developer meeting but tell'em I thought of it, they'll think me a genius.

How Addison Wesley can put this book in the same class as Martin Fowler's stuff is a mystery, the Fowler books contain more information in the Preface.

beginners guide, 20 Aug 2004
a good intro to testing from an XP sense. It lacks depth and therefore invites you to make you own leap to applying it to concepts not covered in the book.

worthwhile investment, 04 Feb 2004
The overall tone of this review may seem a little negative. Don't be put off. I think that this book is awesome.

I would have to agree with the previous reviewer about mistakes in proof-reading and documented progress vs actual progress in the task list. I would be surprised if the reviewers wrote any code whilst reading the book. That said, this gave me a much better understanding of how TDD should be an essential part of any development. In fact, the discrepancies encountered between the text and trying to follow it with my own code probably gave me more knowledge than if I had just copied what was in the book.

I was happy to see Python in there as I love this language and feel that it is still undervalued by a lot of people. This book almost serves as a very basic introduction to Python (if you bother to write the code) and indeed recommends this approach when learning any new language - it admittedly does help if you know the xUnit (JUnit) design and the use of the Java introspection facilities in the JUnit implementation before looking at how Python handles the same issues. I have used the same approach with a couple of other languages and it certainly makes a refreshing change from the usual Hello World route to getting to some proper applications running.

Some friends that have read the book feel that the style grates a little. I can understand this, but this book has too much to offer to let something like that get in the way of the message. They should try reading Bruce McKinney's HardCore Visual Basic for a book that really has the potential to annoy readers with the author's personality! (Again, I quite like that book)

I found this book a useful intermediate step from not using unit tests as well as I might, to comparing how they are used in some of the Eclipse plug-ins and various other open-source projects. You may not require the additional information that this book provides, but it is usually helpful to have a map when you go somewhere new. I suppose it depends on whether you are happy to stop and ask for directions!

everything you need to know for the exam, 30 Oct 2008
recently took my foundation exam and everything i needed to know was in this book, id almost say that the questions in this book are slightly harder than the questions i encountered in the exam.

like a lot of technical books this is not the easiest book to read and id recommend having small reading sessions as your mind will start switching off if you try to read too much in one session.

read it through, then dip into it at various points that you cant remember, there are chapter review tests at the end of each chapter and a sample exam at the end of the book.

id also recommend taking the tests with a notepad, go through the whole test with your answers, marking the ones your unsure of, then check the answers and recheck the sections you got wrong or just needed to refresh.

so, not the easiest book to read but very thorough and will give you everything you need to pass the exam.

Valuable but Flabby and Vague, 11 Jul 2008
The central problem of this book is that in order to justify the 'Patterns' part of the title the author has to abstract the material almost beyond the point of usefulness. Unless you have already discovered most of the techniques the author describes you will be hard pressed to understand his description of them, which does take away the point of buying the book. There is a lot of valuable material hiding in this book, in particular the taxonomy of Mocks / Test Doubles, but you have to work to find it. At over 800 pages the very size of the book is intimidating. Its hard not to contrast this book unfavorably with Next Generation Java Testing: TestNG and Advanced Concepts which explores the same material in a much more practical, focused and helpful manner.

All the important unit testing patterns and principles, but over-long, 04 Aug 2007
Let me start by stating the obvious: this is a patterns book about the organisation of tests and the workings of the xUnit family of unit testing frameworks. It is _not_ a book about Test Driven Development, although there is material that is pertinent to that. Given that the use of JUnit and TDD is pretty intertwined in the minds of many Java developers, it's worth making this distinction, so you know what sort of book you're getting. Speaking of JUnit, most of the code examples uses Java, although there are some examples in C#, VB and Ruby.

Like Martin Fowler's Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture, the book is split into two main sections, a narrative that weaves together a lot of the patterns and strategies, and then a catalogue of individual patterns. Between the two, there is a catalogue of 'test smells', similar to the 'code smells' discussed by Fowler in Refactoring, which I would suggest can be read profitably with the narrative section, rather than used as reference material.

There are a lot of patterns here on the mechanics of xUnit, such as 'Test Runner', 'Garbage-Collected Teardown' and 'Named Test Suite'. I was a bit confused about who this material is aimed at -- maybe someone looking at porting xUnit to a new programming language would find it useful, but a lot of it is fairly obvious to anyone who's used an xUnit in a non-trivial fashion (and certainly, if you haven't done so, this book is not a format that makes for a good introduction), or requires playing against xUnit's strengths (e.g. not putting setup and teardown code in their eponymous methods), although there is good reason for doing so in some of the examples provided, such as databases.