Editorial Reviews
Book Description
This is a book about being a tester on an Extreme Programming (XP) team. It plugs a gap in the currently available XP materials by defining how an XP tester can contribute to the project, including what testers should do, when they should do it, and how they should do it. We wrote it because we think XP is a better way to develop software and that more teams should use it. We believe an acknowledged place in XP teams for testing and quality assurance will help bring that about. Our goals in this book are to Convince current XP practitioners that a tester has a valid role on the team Convince testing and quality assurance professionals that XP offers solutions to some of their worst problems Convince both groups that testers are needed just as much in an XP project as in a traditional development project Provide enough detail and practical example to allow you to either perform the XP tester role yourself or work productively with a tester on your team, whether you're an XP newbie or veteran, tester, programmer, guide, customer, or manager We hope that if you're not currently using XP, you can influence your organization to try it. Even if your team uses some other process for software development, we think you can apply "extreme testing" practices to add value.Because not everyone will be familiar with XP, we provide an overview of the basic concepts in the introduction and describe a few aspects in more detail as necessary throughout the text. But this will be a bare-bones summary, at best. We list several excellent books on the subject in the bibliography, and a wealth of information is available on the Web. The book is divided into three major sections: Part I: The XP Tester Role This is where we define what we think the tester role is (and is not), how a project will benefit from it, what's in it for the tester, and generally why XP needs a tester role. Part II: Test Drive through an XP Project Here we navigate an XP project step by step and suggest what goals to shoot for, which activities to engage in, and helpful techniques to try as a tester on an XP project. Part III: Road Hazard Survival Kit Finally, we provide some resources to help you cope when the real world doesn't conform to the ideal XP project: large projects, for instance, where an XP team is embedded in a larger, non-XP effort or when critical XP practices are modified or omitted. We've tried to keep things as practical as possible and have provided real-life examples. We've also included exercises, so you can try the ideas out for yourself. The exercises are built around an XP project to develop a simple Web-based tracking application. We provide portions of the application at various stages for you to practice on. We think you'll find this book helpful if you're already a member of an XP team, if you're a testing/quality assurance professional, or if you're in any software development role and are considering XP. Lisa Crispin Tip House June 2002 0321113551P10072002
From the Back Cover
The rapid rise in popularity of Extreme Programming (XP) has put the practice of software testing squarely in the spotlight of application development. At one time, testing was a neglected practice, a highly specialized activity that came as an afterthought as complex, code-intensive projects were rushed to completion. But in today's world of escalating quality expectations, testing is a key component of the development process.
XP accelerates testing by demanding its complete integration with development. This in turn has pushed software professionals to rethink their traditional attitudes toward testing. XP asks the entire development team to embrace testing. In fact, testing is so critical to the XP methodology that programmers are required to write automated tests before they begin coding. Until now, however, there has been a distinct lack of instruction specific to testing and how it relates to XP.
Testing Extreme Programming is a practical tutorial that gives software builders a lucid understanding of this important aspect of development. This book demonstrates how testing is central to the XP project, clearly spelling out what testing should be done and when and how it should be performed. The authors teach by example, and readers will be able to improve their knowledge of the testing process by completing the book's exercises.
In addition, this book:
Many software engineers have dismissed XP as a throw-out-the-rulebook, anything-goes technique. It isn't. As this book shows, XP is a deliberate and disciplined approach to software development. Many software engineers have reaped the benefits of this agile methodology because its emphasis on testing eliminates much of the risk inherent in software projects. XP helps developers produce software on time, under budget, and at a higher quality level. But you can't XP if you don't test. With this book as a guide, you will learn to embrace testing. A sound testing program is the engine that drives an XP project.
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