Advanced Software Testing - Vol. 3: Guide to the ISTQB Advanced Certification as an Advanced Technical Test Analyst 1st Edition

The book is very useful for your ISTQB Advanced Technical Test Analyst Exam preparation. Very recommended.Unfortunately, the e-book version doesn't work and has a lot of failures. It's practically impossible to see the chapter four without having to reboot the kindle almost every page.If you want to purchase this book choose the printed format.

Did not purchase this item. Not our review

Easy to read and updated!I recommend it! Arrived in perfect state. Rex Black and Jamie L Mitchell did a good combination in this book!

Nice Book

I enjoyed reading it but unfortunately after studying I did not pass the ISTQB exam.Content wise the book covers most of what is asked for the exam. A couple of things were not covered such as Classification Trees. Maybe this is present at the Vol.1. Some of the contents are also spread all over the book. Mainly the security chapter that is at least in 2 sections.The Modified Condition/Decision Coverage is not correct and does not follow the DO/178B.Please see Nasa's tutorial available on the web "A Practical Tutorial on Modified Condition/Decision Coverage" where it states that the min number of test cases are equal to the number of atomic conditions + 1.In the section covering MC/DC and in the exercises it is the stated that the number of test cases is equal to the number of atomic conditions!!Some mistakes can be seen in some of the graphs namely wrong arrows in the state transition chapter!

Rex Black and Jamie Mitchell have pulled together all the information, along with many practical examples and exercises, which will enable any experienced software tester to pass the ISTQB Advanced Technical Test Analyst certification test. As with Rex Black's other books for the Rex Black Consulting Services (RBCS) Advanced Test Manager and Advanced Test Analyst courses, the book's chapters follow the same organization as the ISTQB Certified Tester Advanced Level Syllabus. Advanced Software Testing Vol. 3 includes all the material presented in the RBCS ISTQB-ATTA course. If you take the on-line course, you'll notice the narration follows the book almost verbatim in many sections. If you're planning on taking either the on-line or instructor led course, this book will provide excellent preparation.While the book's main objective is to prepare the reader to pass the ISTQB-ATTA certification exam, the purpose of certification (and the book) is make better software testers. Advanced Software Testing Vol. 3 fulfills this purpose also. If you have no experience in structure-based testing (like me), this book presents control-flow and path testing with sufficient detail, examples, and exercises to enable you to start using these techniques. The book also does a great job of showing the reader how to apply all techniques to test non-functional software quality characteristics. It covers all the characteristics not covered in the Advanced Test Analyst book. The section on performance testing does a great job in presenting practical information, and pitfalls, on this difficult to test characteristic. And if you have ever considered using automation, you should definitely read the section on test tools. It distills many years of experience by both authors, and presents rational guidance on when and how to apply test automation tools; and when not to! The sections on static and dynamic analysis also provide a lot of guidance along with examples of tools you can use to apply these techniques. As with any technical volume, many of the subjects are covered in much more detail in other books. Advanced Software Testing Vol. 3 also includes many helpful footnotes and an extensive reference section that will point the reader to the works of other experts in the software-testing field for more detailed information.(Full discloser - I was one of the reviewers for this book)

Advanced Software Testing Vol 3 is another fine reference book for my bookshelf, even though it's designed to have an explanatory narrative flow. What is particularly fascinating, and why it's useful for Test Analysts is its breadth. In the last year, 100% of the work that I have been approached for as a test consultant is for test automation using Test-Driven Development (TDD) or Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) approaches. This is fine, but the strategy only covers a small part of what may or should be considered in testing a system. Since these approaches essentially automate testing of functional requirements or use cases (no matter what they are called), there is a a wider constellation of risks that are not tested. An example of this type of test escape is the embarrassing example of the iPhone not handling a European time change in 2010. This is so basic that any test analyst worth his or her salt would have tested for this.A test analyst must be aware of, and must communicate, risks. This book gives him/her a tool to identify risks in test coverage. In the TDD/BDD scenario above, testing the design would fall under pages 104 to 106 of this book (specification-based testing). This is out of 533 pages. The bulk of the other 530 pages are just as important to the success of the project and product. If testing is to be skipped, it should be skipped by first weighing the risks. This book provides a reference for providing that analysis.Disclaimer: I reviewed portions of the book before printing.

This is an excellent text and reference for Software Test Professionals. It is an excellent resource even for those who are not planning to sit for the ATTA Certification Exam.

Plus and Minus points:PLUS:Without having sat the ISTQB ATTA exam (for which this book is a guide, and this is the bottom line of my review, really), I am learning a lot from reading this book. Given the obvious technical nature of the subject, and the depth of knowledge the co-authors have, I really like the relaxed way they have explained it (not "stuffy"), and with a good bit of techy humour thrown in too. This has really helped me to get into the topics.The personal experiences of the authors (interspersed within the various topics) are valuable in helping to explain the point.I think the exercises (mostly using a HELLOCARMS project described at the back of the book) are very good; the Debriefs are explained in good, thorough detail.MINUS:A few mistakes in the book. I've got a 1st Edition copy from 2011 (only just bought it, so hopefully it's the only Edition?!), but it's got quite a few mistakes in it. As well as numerous typos, there's at least one incorrect answer to a Sample Question (I'm wondering if there's at least one more - TBC), others have comments on state transition diagrams being slightly incorrect, and - call me crazy - but Chapter 9 is called 'Test Techniques', when it should totally be Test Tools?!?! All these mistakes are ESPECIALLY shoddy given it's a book by Testers (who dig detail), AND it's by two of the world's leading names in Testing AND this book is a Guide to the ISTQB Exam. Unbelievable.And the premise of this being a guide to the ISTQB exam brings me to my biggest annoyance with the book - Why oh why have the authors decided not to provide justifications for the answers to the sample questions? The questions are tricky, the subject is complex, the exam is Advanced level, this book is a Guide to the exam. Simply telling us the answer at the back just makes me a bit (more) annoyed - it does not improve one's understanding.

I am using this book to study for the ATTA exam but to be honest I am glad I will attending a course too.Some of the sample questions have incorrect answers - now I know what you are thinking, perhaps I just didnt understand the question but I have spent a lot of time debating the same thing with myself and re-checking the book and in some cases the text directly contradicts the solution given. (example, chapter 4, samples question 20, answer includes item III, but this is a static analysis product, see page 268)In addition to that, some of these "samples exam questions" relate to topics which have explicit notes in the text that they are not part of the syllabus - so why are they in there! (example, Chapter 4, sample question 10, loop coverage, see page 191)And my favourite of all, there are sections in this book which begin a discussion on a purportedly important topic, the text then meanders into apocrypha and developer-bashing and the section comes to an end without having made any real point or defined any useful results. (examples, section 4.2.3.3 no useful results or definitions, developer bashing and apocrypha everywhere)I will complete the reading of this book just so I can see examples of all of the sybllabus in action but I will not be too worried when I disagree with something outlined in the text.However, I will eat humble pie if all of my concerns are nullified in any way. A fantastic way to do part of this would be to supply explanations to the answers for the sample exam questions (yet another drawback of this publication).Just as a qualifier for my statements, I am very used to self-teaching - I achieved a first class honours degree in Mathematics by distance learning (but I will be lucky if I pass this exam!)

okay book to read

Thanks..

Very good material but remember that this won't be enough to make you pass the Advanced Level, if that's what your goal of purchasing the book.