Testing Applications on the Web: Test Planning for Internet-Based Systems [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Hung Nguyen and I are co-authors of another book and good friends. I am not an unbiased reviewer. On the other hand, I wouldn't write this review if I didn't believe every word of it.

Hung's book breaks new ground. It will be useful today, and I believe it will have lasting value and influence.

Once you get beyond the superficial (not unimportant, but much less difficult) issues of usability testing that dominate so many discussions of web testing, you run into the really tough problems of web application testing. Hung Nguyen's book is about those harder problems.

The web-based application runs on a wider range of platforms than any other type of program in history. It doesn't even have control over its presentation layer (the user supplies the browser and the multimedia plugins, and these applications might change any time). What will the application look like on the changed browser? The application probably also relies on third party databases (which can change any time), third party network connections (which can change any time), third party security systems and other access control (which can change any time), etc., etc. Almost anything in this system can change any time. How do you deal with a system that has so many unknowns?

Hung's view is that web application testers must learn more about the technical details of the systems and understand how external variables can interact (and fail) with the application under test.

To help testers learn about the interaction (and testing) of applications with other system components, he wrote the field's first book on grey box testing.

This book has substantial value for what it teaches us about testing on the web. Beyond that, it teaches about thinking clearly and thoroughly when your application interacts in complex ways with other systems. I think his approach will have lasting value and lasting influence long after many of the detailed issues that he describes have been resolved and replaced with new ones.

Along with the original approach, Hung gives a powerful real-world example. He is the president of a company that publishes a web-based bug tracking system. To illustrate the types of tests that you can run and the types of bugs you can find, he opened his records and described real tests, real bugs, and real testing problems. It's a rare treat to see a discussion of testing experience by someone who knows testing, who also intimately knows the software under test, and who isn't constrained in what he can say by a nondisclosure contract.

The gray box testing emphasis and approach described throughout is very useful and points out the need for blending black box and white box testing to make the testing more effective. The chapters also contain helpful resources such as, books, links, and companies. This goes a long way in educating SQA folks eager to learn.

Overall, I would say that this book is an excellent read and will serve as one of few reference books on my desk. It does assume some knowledge of Quality Assurance but it is not so in depth that a newbie could not understand. Covering most of the basics needed for implementing methods that will be effective and efficient for Web related testing; I would say it was worth the wait.

Brian-

This book clearly explains through all the terms, methodologies of software and web application testing, to creating test plans, and formulating your test strategies. Nguyen has also done a great job of illustrating front end testing (UI) until backend end testing (DB and Networks). I personnaly like the part of the web testing considerations and tips towards the end of each test activities, as it really saves me a lot of time. It has also a section on all available tools on the net.

The only drawback is that the book has not given much examples of real world web testing cases. Nevertheless, if you are involved in web application testing in any sense, this book should be your indispensable companion on your bookshelf.