James Whittaker – författare

How to Break Software is a departure from conventional testing in which testers prepare a written test plan and then use it as a script when testing the software. The testing techniques in this book are as flexible as conventional testing is rigid. And flexibility is needed in software projects in which requirements can change, bugs can become features and schedule pressures often force plans to be reassessed. Software testing is not such an exact science that one can determine what to test in advance and then execute the plan and be done with it. Instead of a plan, intelligence, insight, experience and a "nose for where the bugs are hiding" should guide testers. This book helps testers develop this insight. The techniques presented in this book not only allow testers to go off-script, they encourage them to do so. Don't blindly follow a document that may be out of date and that was written before the product was even testable. Instead, use your head! Open your eyes! Think a little, test a little and then think a little more. This book does teach planning, but in an "on- the-fly while you are testing" way. It also encourages automation with many repetitive and complex tasks that require good tools (one such tool is shipped with this book on the companion CD). However, tools are never used as a replacement for intelligence. Testers do the thinking and use tools to collect data and help them explore applications more efficiently and effectively.

How to Find and Fix the Killer Software Bugs that Evade Conventional Testing   In Exploratory Software Testing, renowned software testing expert James Whittaker reveals the real causes of today’s most serious, well-hidden software bugs--and introduces powerful new “exploratory” techniques for finding and correcting them.   Drawing on nearly two decades of experience working at the cutting edge of testing with Google, Microsoft, and other top software organizations, Whittaker introduces innovative new processes for manual testing that are repeatable, prescriptive, teachable, and extremely effective. Whittaker defines both in-the-small techniques for individual testers and in-the-large techniques to supercharge test teams. He also introduces a hybrid strategy for injecting exploratory concepts into traditional scripted testing. You’ll learn when to use each, and how to use them all successfully.   Concise, entertaining, and actionable, this book introduces robust techniques that have been used extensively by real testers on shipping software, illuminating their actual experiences with these techniques, and the results they’ve achieved. Writing for testers, QA specialists, developers, program managers, and architects alike, Whittaker answers crucial questions such as:   •  Why do some bugs remain invisible to automated testing--and how can I uncover them? •  What techniques will help me consistently discover and eliminate “show stopper” bugs? •  How do I make manual testing more effective--and less boring and unpleasant? •  What’s the most effective high-level test strategy for each project? •  Which inputs should I test when I can’t test them all? •  Which test cases will provide the best feature coverage? •  How can I get better results by combining exploratory testing with traditional script or scenario-based testing? •  How do I reflect feedback from the development process, such as code changes?

Rigorously test and improve the security of all your Web software!

 

It’s as certain as death and taxes: hackers will mercilessly attack your Web sites, applications, and services. If you’re vulnerable, you’d better discover these attacks yourself, before the black hats do. Now, there’s a definitive, hands-on guide to security-testing any Web-based software: How to Break Web Software.

 

In this book, two renowned experts address every category of Web software exploit: attacks on clients, servers, state, user inputs, and more. You’ll master powerful attack tools and techniques as you uncover dozens of crucial, widely exploited flaws in Web architecture and coding. The authors reveal where to look for potential threats and attack vectors, how to rigorously test for each of them, and how to mitigate the problems you find. Coverage includes

 

·   Client vulnerabilities, including attacks on client-side validation

·   State-based attacks: hidden fields, CGI parameters, cookie poisoning, URL jumping, and session hijacking

·   Attacks on user-supplied inputs: cross-site scripting, SQL injection, and directory traversal

·   Language- and technology-based attacks: buffer overflows, canonicalization, and NULL string attacks

·   Server attacks: SQL Injection with stored procedures, command injection, and server fingerprinting

·   Cryptography, privacy, and attacks on Web services

 

Your Web software is mission-critical–it can’t be compromised. Whether you’re a developer, tester, QA specialist, or IT manager, this book will help you protect that software–systematically.

2012 Jolt Award finalist!

 

Pioneering the Future of Software Test

 

Do you need to get it right, too? Then, learn from Google. Legendary testing expert James Whittaker, until recently a Google testing leader, and two top Google experts reveal exactly how Google tests software, offering brand-new best practices you can use even if you’re not quite Google’s size…yet!

 

Breakthrough Techniques You Can Actually Use

 

Discover 100% practical, amazingly scalable techniques for analyzing risk and planning tests…thinking like real users…implementing exploratory, black box, white box, and acceptance testing…getting usable feedback…tracking issues…choosing and creating tools…testing “Docs & Mocks,” interfaces, classes, modules, libraries, binaries, services, and infrastructure…reviewing code and refactoring…using test hooks, presubmit scripts, queues, continuous builds, and more. With these techniques, you can transform testing from a bottleneck into an accelerator–and make your whole organization more productive!

 

Based on a series of booklets written by bestselling motivational writer Napoleon Hill, Andrew Carnegie’s Mental Dynamite outlines the importance of three essential principles of success: self-discipline, learning from defeat, and the Golden Rule applied.   In 1908, Napoleon Hill met industrialist Andrew Carnegie for what he believed would be a short interview for an article. Instead, Carnegie spent hours detailing his principles of success to the young magazine reporter. He then challenged Hill to devote 20 years to collating a proven formula that would propel people of all backgrounds to happiness, harmony, and prosperity. Hill accepted the challenge, which he distilled in the perennial bestseller Think and Grow Rich. Now, more than a century later, the Napoleon Hill Foundation is releasing this epic conversation to remind people that there are simple solutions to the problems troubling us most, everything from relationships and education to homelessness and even democracy. This is revealed in three major principles: self-discipline, which shows how the six departments of the mind may be organized and directed to any end; learning from defeat, which describes how defeat can be made to yield “the seed of an equivalent benefit” and how to turn it into a stepping-stone to greater achievement; and the Golden Rule applied for developing rewarding relationships, peace of mind, and a strengthened consciousness. Each chapter draws on Carnegie’s words and advice as inspiration, with annotations by Napoleon Hill scholar James Whittaker explaining why they are essential for reaching your goals and prospering—for you, your family, and your community.