Pragmatic Software Testing: Becoming an Effective and Efficient Test Professional

I purchased this book after reading the reviews. I have not read it cover to cover, since I am using it as a ready reference in my medical device consulting practice. As such, it has proven its worth. Under one cover, it provides an overview of the most prevalent testing techniques and related subjects, including the very important (to me and my industry) issues of quality / risk-based testing (risk assessment, management, et al). It pulls in applicable standards (ISO, IEEE ...), and supplements narrative with appropriate graphics (diagrams, flow charts ...). As with all my reviews, I view a book as useful if it provides just a few immediately useful points for my understanding and my business. Pragmatic Software Testing by Rex Black supplies such points in abundance, and has become one of my top "go-to" references in product / production / test equipment software testing / verification and validation. Incidently, a scan of most of my reviews will show 4-5 stars. This is because I only choose to review what I consider useful publications I have read. I d/n bother "panning" those I d/n find useful -- and there are others I haven't yet read, of course.

Pretty good.

If I could only buy one software testing book (or, more realistically, if I only had time to read one), this would be it. This is a practical guide with realistic, useful and immediately applicable techniques that save time, improve test quality and improve testing effectiveness. It's a must read for my department.

There is nothing wrong with this book but on the other hand there is nothing essential here that hasn't been covered thoroughly in several other books. I prefer Patton's "Software Testing" 2nd ed., for example, for principles and McCaffery's ".NET Test Automation" for code techniques. My advice is to compare the table of contents of several software testing books before you pick this book.