Book Description
A proven system for improving your own work and for working better in a team
Used by such organizations as the Walt Disney Company, Silicon Graphics, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the CIA, the Enneagram is a proven psychological system based on nine number types that helps people achieve self-awareness and develop strategic approaches to interpersonal interactions. In Bringing Out the Best in Yourself at Work, Enneagram teacher and business consultant Ginger Lapid-Bodga shows professionals how to apply this popular tool to their work as a way to improve their productivity and help them build positive relationships among coworkers. This practical guide explains how to use the Enneagram to:
- Communicate more effectively
- Provide constructive feedback
- Prevent and resolve conflict
- Bring out their strongest leadership skills
- Discover methods for professional development
- Work better in teams
Customer Reviews:
Finally..........2006-08-26
The genuine nugget in this book is its use of the Enneagram to move forward the original Center for Creative Leaderhip research about what derails successful professionals. Lapid-Bogna's gift is to communicate the most profound and deeply thoughtful insights with deceptively casual language. I agree it needs to be read twice: Once to understand the techniques it describes, and a second time to appreciate how she builds on her hard-earned understanding of what works and doesn't work in OD and career development. Then, consider reading it a third time to appreciate the Enneagram for the doors it opens to truly deep personal growth. Not just another book written as a practice-building marketing piece for the author. It contains enough material for at least two books.
The most practical enneagram book out there for business applications.......2005-10-03
I love this book. I am an executive coach and I find this very useful for helping my Enneagram-aware clients apply the model directly and quickly to work situations -- to help debug relationships, communications, conflilct, etc.
I especially like Lapid-Bogda's distinctions and examples around "Pinch" and "Crunch" for each of the types.
I don't know of any other books except Michael Goldberg's "The Nine Ways of Working" that fill this business-application niche quite so well.
Highly recommended for those who need a practical, hands-on way of using the Ennegram in day to day work interactions.
Betsy Siwula Brandt, Breakthrough Consulting, Santa Fe, NM .......2005-09-03
Finally a groundbreaking book on the 9 ways of working that can be handed to your HR director! Enneagram Personality System books started being published in the 1980's; not until now has there been one that systematically applies this system to organizations. As an organization development consultant, I have always found the enneagram to be essential to my executive coaching and development. Now, in a practical and most excellent way, Lapid-Bogda applies the system to all key areas of organization life-- including employee feedback, conflict in teams, leadership and team development, etc. You can take the applications and use them immediately on the change initiatives you already have underway in your orgaization-- such as your 360 degree feedback sessions.
Not only does Lapid-Bogda make it easy for you to apply this system, but once familiar with her book and work, the reader can order tailor made tools that go with each organization topic that will further assist your ease of application.
If you are "stuck" in your own personal career development or trying to lead others in theirs-- and looking for a breakthrough-- then buy this book!
A Life Changing Book.......2005-08-20
This book has helped me in ways that I never imagined. The information in this book has been extremely useful in my quest to better understand myself and others. "Bringing Out the Best in Yourself at Work" is very much a must read for anyone interested in improving their relationships at work and in life in general.
Personality Traits in the Business Environment.......2004-09-01
This is a book on using the Enneagram system specifically oriented to todays business environment. The Enneagram is not unlike other personality oriented systems. First an individual is asked to examine nine different personality types and to identify himself with one. Then the Enneagram, a diagram of the interaction of the various types can be used to predict behavior.
The book, however, reverses the normal trend in personality testing books where the book is organized around the personality type. Instead the book describes several common business situations and then describes how the various personality types react to the situation.
Book Description
A Straightforward, No-Nonsense Guide to Building the Most Accurate, Complete, and Useful Data Models Possible. How do I know if my data model is accurate? When is a model really complete? Is it possible for a model to be both technically perfect and of no use to an organization, and what can I do to avoid that problem? This book provides answers to these and other crucial data modeling questions. While there are plenty of books that describe the characteristics of finished high-quality data models, only The Data Modeling Handbook gets down to the nitty-gritty of actually building one. Packed with real-world examples, annotated diagrams, and a wealth of rules and best practices, this field-tested guide provides experienced data modelers, architects, and engineers with hands-on guidance from two noted data management experts.
- The only book offering clear, straightforward rules and guidelines for judging model accuracy and completeness
- Presents all rules in several notations, including IDEF1X, Martin, Chen, and Finkelstein
- Compares and contrasts the most popular modeling styles and demonstrates how great models can be built using any type of notation
- Explains how to use an organization's plans, policies, objectives, and strategies to build accurate, complete, and useful models
- Offers detailed guidance to establishing a continuous quality evaluation program that's easy to implement and follow
- Packed with real-world examples and annotated diagrams illustrating each point covered
- Describes how to use Case tools most effectively to build high-quality models
Customer Reviews:
Poor choice for experienced modelers - just ok for beginners.......2004-05-14
This book oversimplifies the examples and expects a leap of faith to truly understand the information engineering technique of data modeling.
May be good in the class room; but in actual practice there are much better references available such as Silverston, Inmon, Kimball, and of course the Zachman framework.
Very academic in nature, more theory than reality.......2004-02-05
Anyone that has been modeling very long will see this book for what it is ... after you look at it once, you'll put it on your bookshelf and leave it there. Save yourself the money ... There are much better reference books available. Try David Hay's book on patterns, or Len Silverston, or Graeme Simsion. Check out the DAMA reference guide .. at least it's built by actual practitioners.
The help screens on the Data modeling tools are more advanced in explaining data modeling than this book.
Probably great for theorists - managers or teachers that don't know what they are doing! But the real modelers will seek help elsewhere.
Misleading or, if you want, wrong.......2003-09-26
The authors deny the fifth normal form and state special-case rules as if they were universal. Examples: Eliminate triads; Two entities cannot have more than one relationship. Although in some specific situations the advice might be valid, anyone who is trying to learn from the reading will be misled. Less harmful, even interesting, for a professor (to learn how not to approach the teaching of DB modeling).
Poor, underdocumented examples. Oversimplification. Unfortunately at the time I had only the title to choose from. Good thing most books now have a table of contents.
Database modeling still doesn't have strong references as database theory does (Date's, Ramakrishnan's, Elmasri's only to cite three). There are excellent theoretical (Thalheim's "Entity-Relationship Modeling" is good) and philosophical approaches (finally they re-published Kent's opera-prima "Data and Reality", fabulous).
The picture is poor when it comes to hands-on modeling. Bruce's "Designing Quality Databases..." is an exception. Good and useful for someone who is developing modeling expertise. But I especially don't recommend Reingruber&Gregory's book.
Very good one to start a good model.......2003-08-28
It is a very good book for a Data base designer and a data modeler. I strongly recommand this book to all database people.
I'd rather visit the dentist.......2003-03-25
This book is about as much fun to read as a book about differential equations. Good concepts, but the context is very dry and puts me to sleep. I've been in the industry for several years, and I bought this book as a reference. But I find myself cringing every time I need to use it.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Book For the Beginning Benchmarker.......2000-03-01
Bogan and English do a great job of introducing benchmarking, give great examples, and follow up with a nice set of "practice problems". They provide success stories and pitfalls to be avoided. Most importantly they give an excellent planning chapter for the company just beginning benchmarking. Great introduction to the topic.
Must reading for anyone implementing benchmarks.......1999-09-16
As a responsible management consultant, virtually every one of my engagements involves measurement and benchmarking in one form or another. This is one of several books I turn to time and again to assist me in ensuring that my clients' initiatives are (1) meeting expectations (2) providing competitive advantage and (3) delivering customer satisfaction. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me - adamleft@webspan.net.
Adopt a we-can-learn-from-anyone culture or else.......1997-01-09
Bogan and English have created a blueprint for creating this we-can-learn-from-anyone culture of benchmarking that is easy to read and use. They give literally hundreds of examples and suggestions for how to select benchmarking targets, organize for rapid learning, and implement these strategies. Learning by borrowing from the best and adapting their approaches makes sense. Buy this book before your competitors do
Book Description
Find up-to-the-minute information on housing costs, recreation, climate, health care, and safety for more than 150 affordable, comfortable and stimulating retirement locations from the Pacific Northwest to Florida.
Customer Reviews:
Pubic Hospital for Retirees.......2006-12-25
I don't know if I'll retire there, but I definitely want to go to Murray, Kentucky, and see what the book describes as the largest "pubic" hospital in the lakes area. It "serves" the west Kentucky and northwest Tennessee region....
The concerns raised - both pro and con - are essential .......2006-11-06
If you're looking for a good, affordable place to retire different than the area you know and live in, take a look at WHERE TO RETIRE: AMERICA'S BEST AND MOST AFFORDABLE PLACES. It outlines affordable places across the country, including not just cost of living insights but assessments of medical care, recreation opportunities, weather, social life, and more. Some states receive their own in-depth coverage; others are included with nearby areas. The concerns raised - both pro and con - are essential for any solid understanding particular to retiree budgets.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Average customer rating:
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Stormwater: Best Management Practices and Detention for Water Quality, Drainage, and Cso Management
Ben Urbonas , and
Peter Stahre
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Civil
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
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| Books
General
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Solid Waste Management
| Environmental
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Sewage Disposal & Treatment
| Environmental
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General
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General
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ASIN: 0138474923 |
Customer Reviews:
Comprehensive and lucid, genuinely strategic, leading edge.......1998-08-24
The great strength of this publication is it's comprehensiveness in taking a strategic approach to the management of integrated value chains.
The book covers many of the specific supply chain management issues that many company's around the world are grappling with today and provides many insights and road maps for supply chain executives as they seek to lower total system costs and improve their service offer.
But just as importantly this book will provide an excellent resource for CEO's and other GM's who are looking to integrate their product market and growth strategies with the operational excellence required to deliver superior performance.
Book Description
Best Places to Raise Your Family: Experts Choose 100 Top Communities That You Can Afford provides timely facts and expert in-depth analysis on 100 U.S. neighborhoods in an accessible and friendly format. Whether you're mulling over the idea of relocating your family, trying to decide where to live once you have a family, or just curious about how your hometown stacks up, you’ll be intrigued by Best Places to Raise Your Family. In addition to providing population statistics, each city is ranked on a number of essential factors such as: education, standard of living, health and safety, and lifestyle. Easy-to-use tables help you put this wealth of information to work to find the place that best suits your family's special needs and interests.
Customer Reviews:
Best Places to Raise Your Family.......2007-09-09
Great Book! Where each city is broken down and reviewed I would like to see a map of the city/state and surrounding area to see exactly where the city is located and what it is close to...
Not worth it........2007-01-03
Somehow I live in one of these places and I know several others very well. I trying to move from one of the best places to raise my family. This book just didn't have the information needed to make a sound decision.
Great for those seeking new places to live.......2006-11-08
This book is perfect for people interested in moving to better places to raise families. It is well organized and represents choices throughout the country. The one complaint I would offer is that many of the best places chosen are on the expensive side, but that is probably unavoidable, as people pay more to live in nice places. There are many inexpensive options described, as well. This book has been hugely inspiring for my family and we don't regret the purchase.
Great Relocation Resource.......2006-07-27
As just one component of your relocation research this is a great tool. While it is hard to question the underlying research presented in the book you have to look for nuances in the recommendations the authors make to gain a better understanding of a particular area. These carefully worded nuances are a critical part of gaining a true picture of the "Best Place" being rated.
Having lived in a few of the cities rated as "Best Places" the subtle comments reveal a much more accurate picture of the area than the statistical data.
It's OK........2006-07-27
There is a lot of information here. We especially liked the 100 `family' places around the country, but isn't that what any suburb is anyway? Still, the selections are interesting.
There are just a few maps in the book and they are quite cheesy. Plus, a lot of the figures they use are recycled from the Census of six years ago. Any good web surfer can dig that stuff up.
I don't know about you, but I could have used less information on Starbucks outlets and `picture postcard' settings and a lot more on the schools. Isn't that why families move?
This book is an OK start. But there must be a better book out there on how a family in North Carolina can find a good school system in suburban Phoenix.
Book Description
The innovative designs in silver jewelry made in Europe and North America in the 20th century are fascinating and highly popular today. This new book starts with the end of Victorian styles, just before the turn of the twentieth century, and proceeds to display and explain the relationships in Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Mexican, Native American, Mid-century Realistic, and Modern Abstract styles right up to the 1990s. Beautiful color photographs clearly show the details, makers' marks, and fine workmanship that make each piece of jewelry fascinating to so many collectors today.
Customer Reviews:
Fantastic Designer Resource!.......2001-03-14
As a jewelry designer, I found this book to be incredibly valuable. While the text is not particularly well written, the photography is outstanding. Great detail shots. Many of the pieces have pictures from the back as well as the front, which is very valuable if you are trying to determine how a piece was made. Signature marks are shown as well. It is a good chronological view of the history of jewelry using spectacular examples of work. I learned a great deal from this book and would recommend it to other designers. As a book for collectors, I thought the assessment information (good, better and best) was without meaningful context and also had no monetary reference. Designers - this is a 5 star book. Collectors - this is a 3 star book.
Nancy Schiffer's "Silver Jewelry Designs".......2000-10-03
I collect silver jewelry--mostly Mexican & bought this book as a reference.
I think the photos are great, especially the colorful ones in the first part of the book on Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau, & Art Deco jewelry, however, the "Values Reference" price guide in the back is very poor. There are no prices listed for many of the pieces shown in the book & the descriptions in the price guide often don't quite match up with the descriptions accompanying the photos, so it is hard to determine the correct price. Also, I think some of the prices quoted are way too high if you compare the prices in the book with, for example, prices on E-bay.
If this book is ever republished, I think the "Values Reference" should be totally revamped & I think the photo captions should follow a more logical order--such as from top to bottom or clock-wise. In the present edition they often don't.
Buy this book for the lovely photos, but if you need a price guide I don't recommend it.
Pleasing to the eye, frustrating to read........1999-05-09
As a coffee table book, 'Designs' is an excellent and pleasant pictorial example of silver jewelery from around the world. As a reference work for a collector 'Designs' at more times than is acceptable is a headache to read. Attempting to determine which of the illustrations fit the authors descriptions is time consuming and should be unnecessary.This problem is evident in the photos of multiple pieces and in the good, better, best sections. For reference purposes, order is lacking. For good, better, best selection, information is lacking.As a jewelery catalog, this book passes muster. As a reference work, I will return the book to its owner and will not purchase a copy for my own modest library.
Book Description
Learn how to improve your C# coding skills using unit testing. Despite it's name, unit testing is really a coding technique, not a testing technique. Unit testing is done by programmers, for programmers. It's primarily for our benefit: we get improved confidence in our code, better ability to make deadlines, less time spent in the debugger, and less time beating on the code to make it work correctly. This book shows how to write tests, but more importantly, it goes where other books fear to tread and gives you concrete advice and examples of what to test--the common things that go wrong in all of our programs. Discover the tricky hiding places where bugs breed, and how to catch them using the freely available NUnit framework. It's easy to learn how to think of all the things in your code that are likely to break. We'll show you how with helpful mnemonics, summarized in a handy tip sheet (also available from our www.pragmaticprogrammer.com website). With this book you will:
- Write better code, and take less time to write it
- Discover the tricky places where bugs breed
- Learn how to think of all the things that could go wrong
- Test individual pieces of code without having to include the whole project
- Test effectively with the whole team
We'll also cover how to use Mock Objects for testing, how to write high quality test code, and how to use unit testing to improve your design skills. We'll show you frequent "gotchas"--along with the fixes--to save you time when problems come up. But the best part is that you don't need a sweeping mandate to change your whole team or your whole company. You don't need to adopt Extreme Programming, or Test-Driven Development, or change your development process in order to reap the proven benefits of unit testing. You can start unit testing, the pragmatic way, right away.
Customer Reviews:
Great introduction to writing unit test in C#.......2007-09-30
This is a great introduction to writing unit tests in C# with NUnit. The authors do a good job of explaining why unit tests should be created, how having unit tests are better than not having unit tests, and what exactly should be coded for in a unit test. The book is well-written, easy to follow, and includes helpful guidelines for things that might be confusing to developers.
The real strength of this book is not the author's approach to writing unit tests, but rather they clearly illustrate what exactly should be tested in a unit test. The authors show how adhering to the guidelines they set forth results in unit tests that are well-written and fail at appropriate times. The authors then generalize this to some extent and provide an excellent discussion on the properties of a good unit test.
My favorite section of the book was actually one of the appendices. In the first appendix, the authors go through a list of gotchas--both in writing unit tests in general and specific to unit tests in C#. This is a very short discussion (only 6 pages), but they identify some issues I've seen with poorly written unit tests.
This is a great book as an introduction to writing unit tests. The authors clearly explain why unit tests should be written, they show clearly what should be tested in a unit test, and they describe some of the problems that have been avoided by writing intelligent unit tests.
The time is NOW.......2007-09-24
You keep hearing about it.
"Unit Testing, Unit Testing, Unit Testing"
The time is now. Stop talking about and start becoming a more responsible developer.
This book takes you through the scenarios. Well written, and easy to get going.
This book has been the key ingrediant to get other developers at my company involved with NUnit testing.
NUnit is freely available. If you have VS2005Pro, then plugging in NUnit make the most sense.
Good book.......2007-06-19
If you are thinking about using NUnit, or (like me) are already using it but want to get some insight from those who have been using it a lot, this is a good book. I must admit that I knew I was going to like the book when the authors state at the beginning that "Separation of Concerns is probably the single most important concept in software design and implementation."
The book introduces the reader to NUnit and how to use it in code, but its strength is in helping you learn how to write good tests that in return help you design better code.
Very Helpful.......2006-07-14
I was new to NUnit testing. After reading this book, I was able to complete my job quickly.
Good introduction to NUnit .......2006-07-13
I was using NUnit within an hour of reading this book. I found it very easy to read. It has helped me transition into a Test Driven Development frame of mind.
Just using NUnit to write test fixtures for existing code reveals instantly where code should be refactored due to high level of dependency. I recommend this to every .NET developer.
Average customer rating:
- A Very Useful Notebook
- Excellent book for discovering what Perl has to offer for testing code
- no nonsense introduction to the imporant stuff
- A brisk canter around Perl testing modules
- A pretty good intro
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Perl Testing: A Developer's Notebook (Developers Notebook)
Ian Langworth , and
chromatic
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Software Development
| Software Design, Testing & Engineering
| Programming
| Computers & Internet
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Testing
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Perl
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| O'Reilly
| By Publisher
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General
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| O'Reilly
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Similar Items:
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Perl Best Practices
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Higher-Order Perl: Transforming Programs with Programs
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Perl Hacks: Tips & Tools for Programming, Debugging, and Surviving (Hacks)
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Intermediate Perl
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Advanced Perl Programming
ASIN: 0596100922 |
Book Description
Is there any sexier topic in software development than software testing? That is, besides game programming, 3D graphics, audio, high-performance clustering, cool websites, et cetera? Okay, so software testing is low on the list. And that's unfortunate, because good software testing can increase your productivity, improve your designs, raise your quality, ease your maintenance burdens, and help to satisfy your customers, coworkers, and managers.
Perl has a strong history of automated tests. A very early release of Perl 1.0 included a comprehensive test suite, and it's only improved from there. Learning how Perl's test tools work and how to put them together to solve all sorts of previously intractable problems can make you a better programmer in general. Besides, it's easy to use the Perl tools described to handle all sorts of testing problems that you may encounter, even in other languages.
Like all titles in O'Reilly's Developer's Notebook series, this "all lab, no lecture" book skips the boring prose and focuses instead on a series of exercises that speak to you instead of at you.
Perl Testing: A Developer's Notebook will help you dive right in and:
- Write basic Perl tests with ease and interpret the results
- Apply special techniques and modules to improve your tests
- Bundle test suites along with projects
- Test databases and their data
- Test websites and web projects
- Use the "Test Anything Protocol" which tests projects written in languages other than Perl
With today's increased workloads and short development cycles, unit tests are more vital to building robust, high-quality software than ever before. Once mastered, these lessons will help you ensure low-level code correctness, reduce software development cycle time, and ease maintenance burdens.
You don't have to be a die-hard free and open source software developer who lives, breathes, and dreams Perl to use this book. You just have to want to do your job a little bit better.
Customer Reviews:
A Very Useful Notebook.......2007-09-07
I've been working with perl for many years, but it seems that every time I pick up a new perl book, there's always something to learn. This Developer's Notebook on Testing was no exception.
I found several tips that helped me speed up my development and maintenance of test harnesses, as well as a number of new coding techniques (new to me, at least).
I consider this one of the best purchases I've made this year.
Excellent book for discovering what Perl has to offer for testing code.......2007-08-20
Throughout history, many writers have written glowingly about the noble tester; the one who ensures that quality is part of every line of code. Children know the names of all of the famous testers, and have committed to memory their noble deeds. There are series of trading cards with the stats of every code tester that has ever lived. OK, perhaps this is all a load of humbug. Testing code is as highly thought of as documentation and debugging; we know we need to do it, but not many developers look forward to doing it. Its the rare developer that leaps from her chair and exclaims "I've just finished this code! Now I get to go test it!". Perl Testing: A Developer's Notebook (hereafter referred to as Perl Testing) may not make the process of debugging Perl code any more sexy or appealing, but it does have some excellent tips and strategies for tightening and streamlining the whole development process.
Perl Testing is part of O'Reilly's Developer's Notebook series of books. The idea is to get the ideas to press quickly, so the books are very concise, straight to the point, and include some themed features such as notes in the margins and "coffee stains". It makes for a more causal book, and stresses workable solutions rather than extreme formality. Sure, its a bit gimmicky, but the format works, and gets the information out quickly. Unfortunately it appears O'Reilly hasn't published any books in this series since Perl Testing so I hope they resurrect it for future topics.
Perl Testing is divided into nine chapters: Beginning Testing, Writing Tests, Managing Tests, Distributing Your Tests (and Code), Testing Untestable Code, Testing Databases, Testing Web Sites, Unit Testing with Test::Class, and Testing Everything Else. Each chapter has several subtopics, beginning with a prelude describing the testing situation, a "How do I do that" explanation, a "What just happened" discussion of the results, and a "What about..." exploration of other tips and tricks. This formality, even for such an informal book, makes for an easy-to-read style, and allows for the book to be used both as a tutorial and a reference for specific tests and testing situations. The code for the tests is both well written and clear, and the tests themselves are well thought out. One might accuse the authors of being too paranoid with their testing, but when bugs are out to get you, paranoia is just good thinking.
Perl Testing is a well-thought out book. I enjoyed leafing through the tests, and found myself thinking "I never thought of that" at some of the tests performed. Some might think that a whole book devoted to testing might be a bit extreme, but compared with other books who dedicate maybe a chapter or two for testing, having this subject covered at length is long overdue. The best summary for Perl Testing would be on the back cover: "You don't have to be a die-hard free and open source developer who lives, breathes, and dreams Perl to use Perl Testing: A Developer's Notebook. You just have to want to do your job better". This is an excellent resource for those looking to have their Perl programs truly sing, and demonstrate their resilience to the bugs and other foibles that plague software development. If you're even thinking of doing Perl programming, and care at all about the quality of your code, you owe yourself a read through Perl Testing: A Developer's Notebook.
no nonsense introduction to the imporant stuff.......2007-08-05
I was initially not excited by O'Reilly's "Developer's Notebook" line of books. A lot of things conspired to make me turn up my nose. The design looked too gimmicky, the first few books turned me off (I don't remember specifics, but it was something like Excel Macros, Java Networking, and some other crap), and something inside me just felt like it was a dumb idea. I don't know why: I used to use similar references all the time, back when the Linux HOWTOs weren't useless. Anyway, when I heard that the new Perl testing book was going to be a notebook, I sort of groaned, but I still made sure I got it as soon as it was out and dug in.
Testing is Really Important. It serves as a secondary form of documentation, it makes it easier to add new features, it makes it easier to fix broken features, and it makes your replacement's job a lot easier when you win the lottery and retire early. It's a sad fact that plenty of people don't test their code, and that many of those who want to just don't know how. PTDN is a crash course for those people. It gets right to the point: page one says, roughly, "You know you should be testing, so here's how you do it. First, run the CPAN shell and install Test::Simple."
The rest of the book sticks to that no-crap attitude. "You want to do X. Here's what you do, and here's what happens when you do it." There isn't much of "why should I do this" or "how does this work on the inside" and that's just right. The book isn't there to show you how Devel::Cover works, or to explain the ideas behind agile development. It's there to help you do the job you know you need to do. It's like an old-style HOWTO extracted back one level of abstraction, or a set of nice fat articles on a series of related topics.
In fact, I think it's safe to say that a more traditional technical book on this subject might have been just the sort of overblown self-important thing that would've kept more people scared of and away from testing. Instead, it's a great crash course for the uninitiated.
For the initiated, I'm not sure how useful it would be. I must say that I didn't find many new or esoteric things in PTDN, but I don't think I'm its target audience. I already use and love coverage reports, I aim for full coverage on my code, and I like keeping my eye on the Test:: namespace for neat new tricks. If I were to hire a lackey, though, who wasn't already familiar with testing, this book would be high up on his must-read list. Knowing how to test your software is vitally important, and this book provides a very short path to that knowledge.
A brisk canter around Perl testing modules.......2007-07-23
This is a decent overview of Perl testing libraries, that goes further than the material in Intermediate Perl and the second edition of Advanced Perl Programming. It also moves pretty fast, as is the practical bent of the Developer's Notebook series. This will be welcome for any programmer familiar with testing tools in other languages, although testing newbies should be able to understand the mechanics without trouble.
Apart from the unit testing basics, it also goes over mocks, coverage, databases, webpages, testing documentation and module layout, and (most importantly for Perl) testing scripts. The Test::Class module, a xUnit-style module is also covered, although the more procedural Test::More seems to be the standard tool in Perl and is given the most attention. Code for a simple continuous integration tool is presented, which is pretty neat, given how short it is.
The emphasis in this book is very much on the how, rather than the why. Unlike many other books, you are given complete code along with how to execute the scripts and the expected output, which is very helpful. What isn't covered is any of the development methodologies that have driven the interest in testing methods. There's no discussion of Test Driven Development here, or how developer-driven unit testing meshes with the software building process, and there's only cursory or no discussion of what to test, where to start, test organisation (which IMO quickly becomes the limiting step in going test-infected), dealing with legacy code, dummies vs stubs vs mocks, white box vs black box testing etc. For the latter, you will have to consult the likes of xUnit Test Patterns, Unit Testing in Java and Test Driven Development: A Practical Guide. None of these books contain Perl code, however.
This is not a very long book, and there's not always the detail you might want for the more advanced topics. The emphasis on applications rather than principles also means that the book is a little vulnerable to API changes and newer CPAN modules. That said, part of the deal with the Developer's Notebook series is the lack of ceremony, so as long as you know what you're getting it's hard to complain, particularly as it's possible to pick up a copy at a reasonable price. Also, the writing itself is clear, direct and no-nonsense. It's a useful resource, and certainly in a more convenient format than scrolling through countless perldoc pages.
A pretty good intro.......2007-06-12
This is a short but solid intro to perl's Test modules. Easy to read, mostly easy to follow.
What it's not:
* an intro to TDD methodologies; for that you should look at the Beck book
* an in-depth guide to the full array of Test::* modules. There's a section on using MockModule and MockObject, but like all the other chapters it's basically just one example of a class + a test script with a brief discussion of "What just happend?"
* Cheap. With largish print and only 180 pages (including index) the cover price of $29.95 is no bargain.
Still recommended for someone trying to get started with perl test frameworks.
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