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.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 20 Ratings

Good for narrow focus on perl and testing - 2008-09-16
Reviewer Rating:
This book is a decent, gap-filling, focused and useful volume on testing perl with the use of the perl Test modules.

About the book:

This is narrowly and tightly focused on testing, and use of the "Test::" series of objects and techniques in Perl. It covers basic setups and use, and then expands into using mock objects and the mock modules, which are not covered well, if at all, in other published texts, at least not from the standpoint of being a software tester (as opposed to a coder).

It also shows how to drive and mock-up database testing, and the various ways to go about testing web sites and back-ends with Perl. Finally, it covers Test::Class, which sets up Unit Testing, for those coming from a jUnit or nUnit angle. And it touches on testing from other aspects, such as testing libraries or interactive code.

Criticisms:

I have found that most of the O'Reilly "Notebooks" are priced too highly for their small amount of content, and the content is usually very minimal. This book is the one exception I've found in that series.

That being said, I still believe that it should be priced around $20, or perhaps $25. But $5-10 is a minor quibble considering this is the only book of its type (Perl testing).

Another valid criticism is that much of the information in this book can be found spread all over the internet in various places, and some parts can be found in other Perl books. That is true - but ultimately irrelevant. Disparate clusters of information without completeness or context is simply not very valuable when compared to a solid text focused on the subject matter.

Bottom Line:

It is a good compilation and reference for its subject, with a lot of information and context provided, which makes it superior to a collection of links and snippets here and there on the internet.

If you are a Perl coder or a tester, this is a handy book to have on your shelf.

Good material, interesting format - 2008-07-29
Reviewer Rating:
I'm written a lot of perl code, and read a lot of evangelism about testing, but had never done much in the way of actual testing. I was exactly the person for whom this book was intended. And, it worked! The information about testing seems very strong, even authoritative, although since I know little else about it except for what I've learned from this book, I can't say that with my authority of my own. I've read lots of O'Reilly books, but this was my first in the Developer's Notebook series. I don't think it's revolutionary approach or anything, but it does work quite nicely, very focused on the practical, easy to apply immediately. All in all, a very nice book for the situation I was in. If you are in a similar situation, you'll probably like it too.

Removed the barrier for test writing - 2009-10-18
Reviewer Rating:
This is a great book because it teaches the novice how to do simple tests and shows experienced testers some of the more complicated things you can do with tests. Shortly after reading this book I emarked on packaging up a module, intending to get it onto CPAN. Trying to get a module created and packaged is not terribly hard, but it is difficult knowing where to start. The same is true with writing tests. This book removed that barrier. If writing tests for your software seems like an intimidating prospect, get this book: it will probably tell you what you need to know and will certainly give you an excellent place to start. It may even give guidance with some of the trickier tests you come up with.

Why 4/5 stars? I have found a few bits and pieces of information that would have been useful but the book did not cover (or, more precisely, I do not remember the book covering). Perhaps the most important omission is specification-based testing using LectroTest. It could be that the module came out after the book was published in which case the book gets 4/5 stars for its age. I could be wrong, but I get the impression that Perl testing has grown a lot since 2005, so perhaps they should write a second edition.

I can say this much: If O'Reilly were to put out a second edition of this book, I would buy it.

Very mechanical - 2009-03-31
Reviewer Rating:
So you want to learn about testing your Perl programs? This book will teach the mechanics of how to use the test frameworks. However it will not teach you a thing about what to test and why. The examples given all test stuff that a child could verify as correct - things so trivial that writing a test for them becomes an exercise in wasting your time. There isn't a bit of sage advice here on where a test is really useful and why, no tips and tricks, no pitfalls or warnings. A glorified manpage.

Covers the subject will all needed detail. - 2009-01-15
Reviewer Rating:
As always this O'Reilly book is written in simple to understand language and also delves deep into the technical aspects of the subject. It is laid out in a logical order that ensures you have the needed understanding of the basic concepts before moving you onto more advanced concepts.

After reading only the first third of the book you can be competent in writing perl tests for basic functionality. The books goes onto describe more complex scenarios involving uncertainty, unusual circumstances, external resource(ie database).

It explains the best practices when creating perl tests such as how to audit your code to ensure every part of your logic tree is tested.

I really have no negative comments about this book. This book was exactly what I needed to learn how to write perl testing modules.

Browse Similar Topics

Top Level Categories:
Internet/Online
Programming
Software Engineering

Sub-Categories:
Internet/Online > Perl
Programming > Perl
Perl > Debugging
Software Engineering > Testing and Debugging