Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Testing Computer Software

Rate this book
A helpful guide to testing computer software!

520 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

Loading interface...
Loading interface...

About the author

Cem Kaner

8 books33 followers
Cem Kaner is a Professor of Software Engineering at Florida Institute of Technology, and the Director of Florida Tech's Center for Software Testing Education & Research (CSTER) since 2004. He is perhaps best known outside academia as an advocate of software usability and software testing.

Prior to his professorship, Kaner worked in the software industry beginning in 1983 in Silicon Valley "as a tester, programmer, tech writer, software development manager, product development director, and independent software development consultant." In 1988, he and his co-authors Jack Falk and Hung Quoc Nguyen published what became, at the time, "the best selling book on software testing," Testing Computer Software. He has also worked as a user interface designer.

In 2004 he cofounded the non-profit Association for Software Testing.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
96 (32%)
4 stars
109 (36%)
3 stars
69 (23%)
2 stars
13 (4%)
1 star
10 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
5 reviews
June 13, 2012
I didn't read this cover-to-cover. It's a rather good book, but aspects of it are now a little dated, and I found other resources more useful overall. Most especially, I found Cem Kaner's free online testing class much more informative and useful. Mostly, I felt like there was a large part of this book that didn't feel terribly applicable to my testing problems, even if it is useful to help examine different ways of looking at tests and test ideas. It's just that better work has been done since.

Should a serious tester buy this book and be familiar with it? Yes, eventually. Is it the most useful book out there? No. Should it be the first book a tester reads? No.
Profile Image for Kate B.
29 reviews5 followers
April 10, 2011
While the examples are out of date, testing methodology doesn't really change if you're testing dot matrix printers or iPhone apps. This is a standard QA reference book for a reason.
Profile Image for Nathaniel Turner.
Author 11 books3 followers
October 9, 2013
I'll start off with a little honesty: I didn't read the last three and a half chapters of this book. In part, this was because the library wanted the book back. More than that, it's because those chapters are really, really long.

The information in this book is extremely useful for anyone in the software testing business. There are basic principles which pervade eras and technology, and this book addresses those effectively and thoroughly.

Unfortunately, there is also the minor issue of technological advancement. Most of this book is geared toward testing in a DOS environment. There is wide discussion of issues that have largely been codified and simplified in recent decades, such as operating system interactions and printers. Sure, there are still many potential hiccups in those areas, but not so many as this book suggests--if only because of the drastic changes in the atmosphere of software that inevitably take place over the years.

Having said that, if you're old enough to remember that DOS used to be a thing, even those parts of this book won't be a dull read for (aspiring) testers. Pay special attention to discussion of designing test plans and cases, because that comes in handy regardless of what you're testing. Laugh a little at the heavily outdated software mentions (like having Windows or another GUI/OS as a relatively new thing).

Typographical errors in this book are relatively few and far between, and they're minor enough that you have to laud the copy-editors (who likely have no background and even less enjoyment in software testing) for doing as well as they did.
Profile Image for Željko Filipin.
922 reviews10 followers
October 31, 2022
Three sentence summary

This book is about doing testing when your coworkers don’t, won’t and don’t have to follow the rules (p. vii). Realistic test planning is dominated by the need to select a few test cases from a huge set of possibilities (p. 17). Testing is best conceived as a group that provides technical services and information. (p. 343)

Book Club

This is the fifth book that my team at work is reading for our book club. We were reading this book from August to September 2022. We had a meeting every month to discuss the book. I like talking with people about good books as much as I like reading them.

Random thoughts

I’ve already started reading this book many years ago, and gave up. I remember thinking it was very hard to read. I didn’t find it so hard to read now.

This is one of the rare books that I’m reading from a paper copy. I usually read e-books. This one is pretty old. It has the very familiar smell of an old book. The smell takes me back to my childhood when I was reading a lot of comics that smelled exactly like that.

I was planning to read the book while traveling the Croatian seaside this summer. So, the book visited three islands with me, Brač, Hvar and Čiovo. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any time to read the book there.

I wrote more on my blog: https://filipin.eu/testing-computer-s...
Profile Image for Dan Stewart.
20 reviews1 follower
January 13, 2019
I read this book because it came highly recommended by many other testers in the industry. I thought it would not be relevant for Web and mobile testing, but the principles are timeless. I really liked the humor and the matter-of-fact tone in the book. It kept me engaged.
Profile Image for Dmitry.
13 reviews
October 26, 2018
Книга о том, как организовывать процесс тестирования при разработке ПО каскадным методом. Несколько устарела, но кое-что почерпнуть можно.
February 27, 2017
Хороший обзор деятельности тестировщиков разных уровней с конкретными приемами работы. Некоторые главы можно пропустить (тестирование печати и т.п.)
Profile Image for Galen.
31 reviews1 follower
February 27, 2008
This is the seminal work for the practicing software quality assurance engineer. At least it was back when I was testing COTS software. It seemed a little less useful for testing web applications when I tried to get the test team to read it.
7 reviews6 followers
February 22, 2013
This book is great giving you a rundown on what to expect in the testing process and how to go about thinking of test cases. However, I was really hoping this book would actually have shown more code, both in the sense of the testing code, and the code that's being tested.
Profile Image for Adib.
1 review21 followers
June 2, 2013
I will recommend this book for fresher. This book organized in such a way so that fresher or newbie testers can learn about testing theory , philosophy and can also get practical experience on Software Testing.
Profile Image for Chris.
35 reviews
May 23, 2014
Excellent book on the methods, advantages and hazards of software testing. I have seen objections that this book is dated, but it certainly covers the basics. If someone tries to sell you a silver bullet, for better or worse, you are likely to find a lot of relevance here.
Profile Image for Coral Rose.
370 reviews18 followers
February 24, 2009
What I learned? Um...everything I know about computer testing that didn't just spontaneously generate in my head.
Profile Image for Dennis.
116 reviews15 followers
April 6, 2013
Great introduction to the field. Thorough explanation of motivation, challenges, and terminology. Probably a bit outdated, but I think the principles are still applicable.
Profile Image for Namida.
19 reviews7 followers
July 19, 2016
Excellent summary of the software testing field. The examples are understandably dated, but remain clear and purposeful. If you are new to testing and unsure of where to begin, this is it.
Profile Image for Brian Menue.
Author 2 books2 followers
Read
March 26, 2018
It cracks me up that a software book from 1999 can still be relevant and useful.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.