Software Testing in the Real World: Improving the Process (Book Review)

The competitive nature of the technology indusstry has made the field of software testing increasingly important. While software development is not a major necessity for an actuary's work product, we are called from time to time to develop software products for our clients. Software Testing in the Real World was derived by the author's, Edward Kit, experiences with "real-world" testing concerns and issues. The book has a strong emphasis and focus on the testing process and how to improve it. Part II of establishes what testing is all about and provides a framework for ongoing process improvement. The appendices section is quite useful and includes: lists of potential improvements in software testing, overvies of relevant standards to testing software, testing exercises, as well as references and pointers to testing resources and tools. Becasue the book is geared toward software engineers, actuaries may find it difficult to apply some of the concepts to their own work. however, actuaries who work extensively in spreadsheet designs and systems development should find this book useful as a means to provide testing methods for their work.