ronpih's weblog : Books

Buying Books

ronpih — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 21:26:00 GMT

I like buying books from Amazon. They have really done a great job of making book buying friction-free. But I love buying book from the Pragmatic Programmers even more. Why?

All their books are available in both paper and ebook formats. Recently I've been trying to cut down on actual physical books and have taken to only buying ebooks. It's great that all their books are available in ebook formats.
Note that in #1 I said formats (plural). Their ebooks are available as pdf, epub, and mobi which means I can read them on my computers, iPhone, or Kindle. This is huge for me.
Book availability in beta.
I like the subjects of many of their books. They have books not only on various technologies but also on management, self-development, testing, etc.

Free Copy of Ignore Everybody

ronpih — Thu, 07 May 2009 19:20:00 GMT

I just received confirmation that I will be receiving a free autographed copy of Hugh MacLeod's upcoming book, Ignore Everybody. (details on the offer here) Interestingly, the book's release date is June 11th which just happens to be my birthday...

Microsoft Press Blog

ronpih — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:50:00 GMT

For all the "book heads" out there, Microsoft Press has a blog (I just found out about this).

Books

ronpih — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 10:25:00 GMT

I know it's old already but I just read Jeff Atwoods post on programming books. I love reading programming (and testing... and management... and other...) books myself a lot. At least a lot compared to what Jeff says the average programmer reads. I especially like that he included a photo of his programming bookshelf. Whenever I go into someone's office for the first time I always peruse their bookshelf. I think it tells me something about them.

What am I currently reading? Well, I'm reviewing an Analysis Services book that will be released soon and I want to get better at it so right now I'm reading a book on writing. But after reading Jeff's post I'm thinking it might be time for me to dust off that second edition of Code Complete.

James Bach's Book

ronpih — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 02:56:00 GMT

Last year at CAST, I spent time in James Bach's class, Self Education for Testers. That class really opened up my mind to possibilities I hadn't considered.

Now I see that he's writing a book about things he mentioned in that class. I can't wait for the book to be available. This will go on my "must-read" list.

SQL Server Analysis Services Related Books

ronpih — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:13:00 GMT

By no means complete but the page will live here as it develops.

Software Testing Books at Tester Center

ronpih — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 22:37:00 GMT

I'm involved in MSDN's Tester Center in the area of software testing book reviews. The current "Note from the Editor" at TesterCenter talks a bit about why testers should read books about their profession. What's your favorite software testing book?

Happy About Global Software Test Automation

ronpih — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 20:26:00 GMT

A software testing book with a quote from Steve Wozniak on the cover? From the quote it doesn't sound like Steve's happy with the quality of code that he's coming in contact with. I can sympathize. Maybe I've got my own high bar for quality but I don't think I've come upon any software product that I consider truly excellent. So, how can we as an industry get better? Does this book give us real help or clues on how to do so?

The books subtitle is "A Discussion of Software Testing for Executives" and I think it's apt. The book is a quick read and doesn't drill down into details. But it does provide a high level model for thinking about what good software testing looks like and attempts to integrate three aspects of it. Those three aspects are manual testing, automated testing, and global outsourcing.

The book starts off with an overview of software testing. Since the intended audience is executives, the overview considers software testing in the context of the business. This is a different approach from many testing books and that makes it valuable. I think the content of the overview is accurate and would help an executive understand more about software testing issues.

The book then spends three chapters talking about the pitfalls of manual testing, automated testing, and outsourcing/offshoring respectively. Each chapter also talks about suggestions for improving that particular area of software testing.

The book follows up with it's recommendations for strategy and tactics of the model they call Global Test Automation. The seven steps recommended by the model include:

1. Assess your testing needs
2. Align your testing process
3. Leverage automation
4. Minimize costs and risks of global resources.
5. Select the right tools.
6. Secure/develop competency.
7. Measure, set goals, optimize.

The book concludes with 10 top executive take-aways.

I liked the book. It was a quick read and hit on most of the issues that I have seen in real world software testing efforts. It makes some points about software testing that executive sponsors should understand and recommends an approach that makes sense to me.