Book Description
In Classroom Assessment and Grading That Work, Robert J. Marzano provides an in-depth exploration of what he calls "one of the most powerful weapons in a teacher's arsenal." An effective standards-based, formative assessment program can help to dramatically enhance student achievement throughout the K-12 system, Marzano says. Drawing from his own and others' extensive research, the author provides comprehensive answers to questions such as these:
*What are the characteristics of an effective assessment program?
* How can educators use national and state standards documents as a basis for creating a comprehensive, topic-based assessment system?
* What types of assessment items and tasks are best suited to measuring student progress in mastering information, mental procedures, and psychomotor procedures?
* Why does the traditional point system used for scoring often lead to incorrect conclusions about a student's actual knowledge?
* What types of scoring and final grading systems provide the most accurate portrayal of a student's progress along a continuum of learning?
In addition to providing teachers with all the tools they need to create a better assessment system, Classroom Assessment and Grading That Work makes a compelling case for the potential of such a system to transform the culture of schools and districts, and to propel K-12 education to new levels of effectiveness and efficiency.
Customer Reviews:
I can't understand it .......2007-08-01
I teach high school Spanish. Our principal makes frequent reference to Robert Marzano in faculty meetings. Apparently Marzano is very highly regarded among people with PhD in Education. Our principal especially recommended this book, so I bought it to read during the summer. I got half way thru it, dozed off many times, and put it down for good.
Book Description
Previously published under a different title, How to Make Achievement Tests and Assessments, the earlier editions have been practical in assessing the effectiveness of classroom instruction. Although the titles is new, the concepts remain the same. This new edition reflects a greater emphasis on types of achievement assessments other than classroom testing. It stresses the importance of using both classroom tests and performance assessments for a comprehensive of all intended learning outcomes. Teachers, School Psychologists.
A Longwood Professional Book.
Customer Reviews:
The prequal!.......2006-11-11
For those of you taking WED 463 with SIU, this is the OLD EDITION!!!
My professor used 8th while aluding to 9th being on the presses for the new year (2007) so if you really want to search for the right information (only one chapter is actually different from this to the 8th edition but content has been re-arranged so going to page #XYZ isn't going to be helpful following along in class.)
On the other hand, if you don't mind digging for the information everyone else has already found and are a starving college student looking to save enough money for Rammon and Taco Bell, this book is for you!!!
Very pleased.......2005-07-09
The book was perfect and I received the book very quickly. The seller was great!
Book Description
This
Second Edition of the bestselling text teaches an often intimidating and difficult subject in a way that is informative, personable, and clear. Researchers and students who find themselves uncomfortable with the analysis portion of their work will appreciate this book’s unhurried pace and thorough, friendly presentation.
Salkind takes students through various statistical procedures, beginning with correlations and graphical representation of data and ending with inferential techniques and analysis of variance. In addition, there is coverage of SPSS (and data sets for hands-on experience), and a review of more advanced statistical techniques, such as reliability, validity, introductory non-parametric statistics, and more. Pedagogical features include sidebars offering additional technical information about the topic and set-off points that reinforce major themes. Finally, questions to chapter exercises and a complete glossary are located at the back of the book.
Throughout the book, Salkind offers readers:
- Difficulty Rating Index for each chapter’s material for each chapter’s material
- Tips for doing and thinking about a statistical technique
for doing and thinking about a statistical technique
- Top Ten for everything from the best ways to create a graph to the mosteffective techniques for data collection
- Tech Talk boxes for readers who want additional details and commentary on statistical proceduresÂ
- Things to Remember offer readers reviews and reminders of how material presented earlier relates to a technique being presented
- Steps that break statistical techniques down into a clear sequence of procedures
- SPSS Tips for executing each major statistical technique
- Time to Practice exercises at the end of each chapter, followed by complete solutions to each problem
- Appendices contain an introduction to SPSS as well as data sets (also available online) used in the completion of chapter exercises and end-of-chapter problems
Praise for the First Edition
"I liked its humorous approach, which indeed helps to reduce statistical anxiety. The design of the book is inviting and relaxing, which is a plus. The writing style is great and the presentation is appropriate for my students. A fun and well-written book, it is easy to read and use, and presents statistics in a user-friendly way. . . . I would recommend it for sure."
--Minjuan Wang,
San Diego State University
"Salkind’s book is in a class by itself. It is easily the best book of its kind that I have come across. I enthusiastically recommend it for any one interested in the subject, and even (and especially) for those who aren’t!"Â
--Russ Shafer-Landau
, University of Wisconsin
"
Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics really makes students learn and enjoy statistics and research in general. Students especially like the Ten Commandments and Internet sites."Â
--Valerie Janesick,
Roosevelt University
"
Statistics for People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics
is definitely the right book for people who have to overcome that familiar anxious feeling when opening a standard statistics book and who having finally managed to do so are still not able to make much sense of it all. The book by Salkind is easy and pleasant to read and one that hardly needs any pre-knowledge of the field to be able to follow the author’s train of thoughts. Salkind has managed to bring statistics home to people who hate statistics, or thought they did."
--STATISTICAL METHODS IN MEDICAL RESEARCH
New to the Second Edition:
- Downloadable practice data sets at http://www.soe.ku.edu/faculty/Salkind/stats_fpwhs/
- New chapter on factorial analysis of variance
- New chapter on reliability and validity
- New section on effect size
- An entirely revised test bank instructor's manual
Customer Reviews:
Review of Sats Book.......2007-01-19
This book really helped to simplify much of the statistical information that I received in class. I warn that some chapters are more digestible than others but overall it is a good book for someone who is likely to struggle in a statistics class.
Great book!.......2005-08-09
Really helps stats seem easier. Recommend this to anyone who has trouble understanding statistics.
Math Idiot Aces Stats.......2005-03-20
This is the finest book in its class. As a self-described "math idiot" this text made complex equations simple to understand. Step by step method for each and every equation, explaining what everything means and best of all...WHY it is important. Two thumbs up!
Very helpful BUT...........2002-05-01
This book was great at explaining the principles behind the math. However-- THERE WERE HUGE MISTAKES!!! The formula for the correlation coefficient for example, had a misplaced parenthetical that changed the formula. As a rookie in this area I was in tears trying to figure out my homework. This was not the only error, but it certainly was the worst!!!
Otherwise, the examples make it easy to understand the concepts of statistics, and certainly made it so I was able to ace the course. I just wish it hadn't had so many errors.
At last...a book that students can follow!.......2001-05-14
This is an easy to follow, well written book that students find useful. I have used it for teaching undergraduate research and statistics and as a supplement for graduate level research. It is written on a level so that almost all students can follow it and it provides excellent examples.
Book Description
A supremely usable nuts-and-bolts guide for beginners… A daily tool of the trade for specialists… Handbook of Usability Testing gives you practical, step-by-step guidelines in plain English. Written by Jeffrey Rubin, it arms beginners with the full complement of proven testing tools and techniques. From software, GUIs, and technical documentation, to medical instruments, VCRs, and exercise bikes, no matter what your product, you'll learn to design and administer extremely reliable tests to ensure that people find it easy and desirable to use.
- Requires no engineering or human factors training
- A rigorous, step-by-step approach—with an eye to common gaffes and pitfalls—saves you months of trial and error
- Liberally peppered with real-life examples and case histories taken from a wide range of industries
- Packed with extremely usable templates, models, tables, test plans, and other indispensable tools of the trade
Customer Reviews:
Very handy advice.......2006-08-26
I'm a professional usability analyst, and I got some really useful tips when I opened up my copy of this book recently. More than ever its clear to me that Rubin is an experienced practitioner, with a sensible eye for what works.
An excellent book for budding usability folks.......2002-10-26
This book is a very handy reference guide for anyone who is just getting into the field of usability, and will need to conduct their own studies. It has many nifty tips for test planning and lots of information those just starting up in the field.
Rock-solid introduction to usability testing........2000-06-07
The author provides a supermarket of information from which you can choose your approach and method for performing usability testing. I had a little usability-testing experience when I bought this book. It quickly gave me some ways to streamline my process, plus some ways to shore up my process where it was weak. The most important thing this book gave me, however, was an understanding of when to use "quick and dirty" usability testing and when to perform a more thorough study.
If you will be performing a usability test, read the book........1999-08-27
Mr. Rubin provides some of the principles of User Centered Design and explains how to perform a usability test session to ferret out some of the usability problems. A wonderful guide for someone who will be performing usability tests and would like to be able to refer to some guidelines, report formats, and technique suggestions.
A nice start, inoffensive, practical.......1999-02-23
I'm a clinical-social psychologist by training; lots and experimental psychology and research design and analysis experience. Rubin really captures the basics of the scientist-subject without being overly complex, and he does it specific to software and similar assessment projects. His writing is clean, and maybe even simple. As such, I consider his efforts a success. However, the single volume is not sufficient. Combined with titles by Nielsen, Hackos, Redish, Cooper, Norman, etc., etc., as well as a *thorough* review of the journals (the profession is changing *so* rapidly), I think Rubin's book becomes more worthy, and more useful over time. Positive, is that it's a paperback; neutral is that it might be better as a spiral-bound; negative is that it is over-priced. It should be about $24.95.
Book Description
Are you a tester who spends more time manually creating complex test data than using it? A business analyst who seemingly went to college all those years so you can spend your days copying data from reports into spreadsheets? A programmer who can't finish each day's task without having to scan through version control system output, looking for the file you want?
If so, you're wasting that computer on your desk. Offload the drudgery to where it belongs, and free yourself to do what you should be doing: thinking. All you need is a scripting language (free!), this book (cheap!), and the dedication to work through the examples and exercises.
Everyday Scripting with Ruby is divided into four parts. In the first, you'll learn the basics of the Ruby scripting language. In the second, you'll see how to create scripts in a steady, controlled way using test-driven design. The third part is about finding, understanding, and using the work of others--and about preparing your scripts for others to use. The fourth part, more advanced, is about saving even more time by using application frameworks.
Customer Reviews:
Good Ruby book for beginners..........2007-08-30
It's been 12 years since Yukihiro Matsumoto released Ruby's first version. Now that Ruby has achieved mass popularity, more and more people are getting into this new, perhaps odd, programming language. Among other functionalities, Ruby is very suitable for developing lightning fast scripts and learning how to write these is this book's main purpose.
The book is written around four interesting projects that teach you from the basics of Ruby to some useful aspects of this language. Those are an uninstaller checker, a version control system, a web page information retriever and a system monitor for watching long-running programs and then forward information trough email or instant messaging.
Even though the graphics in the book's back says it is for people between beginner and expert level users, I find it specially good for beginners. I'd risk saying that it is even suitable for absolute beginners due to the fact that Brian Marick explains how to set up the language, use a system shell as well as what object oriented programming is, etc...
He does all this without appealing to other languages. This fact, although it is great for beginners, can sometimes annoy experienced developers a bit but it's nothing one cannot deal with.
Brian Marick lead us through the book using a simple and direct speech sometimes with a slight sense of humor to chill things out. He doesn't only teaches how to use the language but also encourage people using it referring to eventual "bugs" and other things that may appear to be odd for beginners.
Another good characteristics are the "Ruby Facts" chapters, it's like an intermission that briefly introduces some concepts as in chapter 10 - "Ruby Facts: Regular Expressions".
The book intends that the reader goes programming along with it as it is a practical book. No deep and extensive concepts are taught here, there's not even an introduction reminding of Ruby's history. Therefore this is a straight practice oriented hands-on book with it's main target being testers that might want to automate some of their work.
Concluding, despite the fact that the book's name ends with "for Teams, Testers and You", all the book seems to be written thinking about testers. I recommend the book specially for beginners who want to learn Ruby as their first programming language and for people who don't know Ruby and want to learn quickly how to write Ruby scripts. Therefore I give this book an overall classification of 4/5.
Review by
Joaquim Rocha (NEEI)
Teaches Testers Ruby.......2007-07-24
This book teaches the Ruby language by working through a series of practical scripts. These scripts accomplish everyday tasks that every tester can relate to: comparing file lists, monitoring code changes, scraping web pages, and using a notification framework. The book covers not only the Ruby language, including an excellent chapter on regular expressions, but also provides detailed advice on how to develop reusable libraries, something that Watir users are always asking for help with. If you are a serious Watir user, don't hesitate to get this book.
Best book available for beginning with Ruby .......2007-04-07
During the mid- and late-1980s I was was working in C and eventually C++. During that period I devoured any programming book I could get my hands on. My favorites were very practical books--those books that built real, working examples. Herb Schildt and Al Stevens were the best at this. I've often wished for such books on the newer languages as I learn them. Brian Marick has given us exactly this type of book with his "Everyday Scripting with Ruby."
I'm one of those programmers who read a little bit about Ruby and was only mildly intrigued until I read about Rails. Once I read about Rails I just dove in--I didn't bother to learn much Ruby, only looking something up in "Programming Ruby" when I couldn't figure it out by trial and error. I became proficient enough at getting things done in Rails but certainly didn't have a solid, comfortable feeling for Ruby itself. This book fills in those gaps for me. This is the Ruby book I wish I'd read first.
"Everyday Scripting with Ruby" covers four very real-life small projects, each of a decent size. The projects are small enough that you don't need to remember every detail from the prior 100 pages but are big enough that you can learn real lessons from them. This is absolutely the best beginner book on Ruby available.
Excellent tutorial for scripters.......2007-04-02
When I first heard that the Pragmatic Programmers were putting out a book on Ruby oriented towards testers, I thought to myself that I knew a few testers who might be able to benefit. I was a bit surprised when I received the book and the focus changed from that of testing to something a bit more generic. And after flipping through it I was afraid this would be just yet another book teaching Ruby.
Despite my initial misgivings, as I read through the book its value became apparent. This is not a book aimed at teaching people who are interested in developing complex systems in Ruby; this title is aimed squarely at using Ruby for scripting. "Everyday Scripting with Ruby" is a task-oriented tutorial that will help the reader quickly become productive writing useful scripts. The examples throughout the book are truly indicative of the types of problems that scripts are written to solve, and the book doesn't waste much time on fluff or things that are otherwise not likely to be of interest to the scripter.
While "Everyday Scripting with Ruby" isn't much of a reference manual, it does work pretty well as a tutorial. Readers will typically get the most value from the book by reading it cover-to-cover and following along by getting the examples working on their own computers. Many of the chapters finish with problems for the reader to try out on their own, with the solutions to the problems being detailed in the back of the book. Through reading the text, trying the examples, and further exploration of the material through tackling the end-of-chapter problems, the reader will come away confidant that they can use Ruby to successfully write scripts to solve their problems. You can't ask for much more than that.
Great choice to learn how to program in Ruby.......2007-03-30
Everyday Scripting With Ruby is a book that is geared toward the computer user who is not afraid to scale new heights to try to improve their skills. The premise is that people who use computers routinely do many repetitive tasks that would be better offloaded for a computer to do. Often they think that programming it themselves is too hard, and they cannot justify hiring someone to write a program to handle their menial tasks. Using the Ruby language, anyone who is comfortable with a computer can now learn automate these tasks with a little training.
Ruby is an object-oriented scripting language that originated from Japan. It takes some of the best features from some of the best languages and combines them to make a simple and easy to use yet powerful system for processing tasks. It is freely available as open source software and is available on many platforms including Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
Everyday Scripting With Ruby targets three audiences. First the "Tester," the person who is involved with the development of software but thinks that programming is too hard. The second target audience is the "Analyst" or someone who manipulates a lot of data. With Ruby scripts, they can automate mundane tasks and free up more time for more rewarding things. Finally, this book is for the programmer who hates to use complex programming languages to accomplish these smaller tasks.
As I said in my full review at Blogcritics, Everyday Scripting With Ruby is a well written introduction to the Ruby language. While it may be too simple for an experienced Ruby developer, an experienced programmer coming to Ruby would find it easy to read and a good place to learn Ruby incrementally. Some one who is not a programmer by avocation, but enjoys mucking around a computer, will find it a wonderful treat!
Customer Reviews:
Don't Let the Title Fool You.......2007-08-31
This is my new favorite-book-to-give-to-anyone-who-is-learning-or-using-Java.
The title is misleading in that this book is about much more than just the Agile Programming stuff. While it does a great job talking about Agile techniques and always starts by creating a unit test, the book really is about all aspects of Java (specifically Java 5) programming. Anyone who takes the time to work through the examples will become a much better Java programmer.
OO patterns, collections, type safety and more are covered and explained in the context of a rich, in-depth example. And because the author has you construct a high-quality test suite around the example, you are free to experiment with different ways to implement each new feature - thus proving to yourself the benefits of Agile design.
Just like it says in one of the quotes on the cover, this book is now required reading for the Java programmers at our company.
Great whether you're learning Java or TDD.......2006-12-03
This book is primarily for new programmers who want to learn Java as their first programming language. The book can also be helpful for programmers familiar with test driven development (TDD) but new to Java, or vice versa. I am an experienced Java developer, and I found that going through Agile Java presented me with a new and better way of approaching Java code development. This book covers Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) version 5.0, but covers only a few of the additional APIs at an introductory level. Technologies that are used pervasively in the majority of enterprise applications, such as logging, JDBC, and Swing, are presented in Agile Java. Some of the information, such as that on logging, will teach you all you need to know for most purposes. Other lessons, such as those on Swing and JDBC, will give you a basic understanding of the technology and will tell you where to go when seeking further information.
The core of Agile Java is fifteen lessons of about 30 pages each. It starts with baby steps in Java, TDD, and OO. The book finishes with a strong foundation for professional Java development. The core lessons should be read sequentially since each lesson builds upon the previous ones. Once you have completed the core lessons, you should have a solid understanding of how to build robust Java code. If you haven't completed the fifteen core lessons, you should not assume you know how to write good Java code. Each of the fifteen core lessons in Agile Java has you build bits and pieces of a student information system for a university. This single common theme helps demonstrate how you can incrementally build upon and extend existing code. Each lesson also finishes with a series of exercises. Instead of the student information system, the bulk of the exercises have you build bits and pieces of a chess application. Some of the exercises are involved and quite challenging, but they are where learning the methodology really begins.
There are three additional lessons to cover a few more Java topics. Two of the lessons present an introduction to Swing. These two lessons will provide you with enough information to begin building robust user interface applications in Java. But the bigger intent is to give you some ideas for how to build them using TDD. The third additional lesson presents an overview for a number of Java topics that most Java developers will want to know such as JARs, regular expressions, cloning, JDBC, and internationalization.
I really liked how the author integrated the three concepts of Java programming, TDD, and object-oriented design without confusing matters. The book is very clear with good illustrations. I highly recommend it. The following is the table of contents:
Lesson 1. Getting Started
Lesson 2. Java Basics
Lesson 3. Strings and Packages
Lesson 4. Class Methods and Fields
Lesson 5. Interfaces and Polymorphism
Lesson 6. Inheritance
Lesson 7. Legacy Elements
Lesson 8. Exceptions and Logging
Lesson 9. Maps and Equality
Lesson 10. Mathematics
Lesson 11. IO
Lesson 12. Reflection and Other Advanced Topics
Lesson 13. Multithreading
Lesson 14. Generics
Lesson 15. Assertions and Annotations
Additional Lesson - Swing, Part 1
Additional Lesson II. Swing, Part 2
Additional Lesson III. Java Miscellany
Appendix A: An Agile Java Glossary
Appendix B: Java Operator Precedence Rules
Appendix C: Getting Started with IDEA
Agile Java References
Great Book.......2006-07-28
I've gotten about 6 chapters into this book and I love it. I've been developing Java for almost 7 years and am currently teaching myself Agile principles and this book comes as a great help.
I wanted to like it!.......2006-02-17
I'm not a beginning programmer, or even an absolute Java novice, so maybe this book isn't really aimed at me. My biggest gripe is that the code snippets continue on and on making the book very poor for anything other than cover-to-cover reading.
fantastic.......2005-08-24
This book is a fantastic primer to not only the java language, but to agile methods and junit as well. The author does a great job of introducing many concepts in a way that is easy to digest without being slow. However, seasoned java programmers may get frustrated with the early chapters that speak to basic java while introducing the bread and butter of junit. This is only for the first 150 pages or so. The information and lessons on refactoring, best practices, and junit are well worth it though. The best part of the book is the author's style. He does not speak down to the reader with overly high vocabulary, or with an "I am all knowing" attitude, but rather he uses a conversational tone with an emphasis on making the topic clear concise and to the point.
Book Description
Learn how to apply the concepts and techniques of Test-Driven Development (TDD) to writing software for Microsoft .NET. Two experts in agile software development teach#151;using a wealth of pragmatic examples in C# and other .NET development tools#151;how to use automated tests to drive lean, efficient coding and better design. You'll focus on .NET-specific issues for TDD, including the best time to employ the inherent features of .NET class libraries and how to use NUnit, a leading unit-testing framework for .NET. And you'll see real-world examples of TDD-for .NET projects, including a Microsoft ADO.NET relational database, a user interface created with Microsoft ASP.NET and Microsoft Windows- Forms, Web services, and other useful applications.
Customer Reviews:
Great pump-primer for ASP.NET developers.......2006-09-02
For .NET developers new to test-driven-development who want a recipe for the process, an invaluable book. This is not a concept book, but rather a concrete example that gets a little loose towards the end. Those who have also adopted Model-View-Controller for their ASP.NET applications will be able to logically extend the first half of the book to test their web interfaces, something that is admittedly difficult using the "stock" ASP.NET design philosophy.
I would supplement this book with Pragmatic Unit Testing with nUnit and C#, which gives you a much higher-level view of how to utilize TDD on a daily basis.
First exposure to test driven development.......2005-09-30
I attended a workshop on test driven development presented by James Newkirk. I was so intrigued with the concept that I had to go out and get his book to find out more. As a result our project now uses NUnit, TestDriven.net for test driven development and find that this has really boosted confidence in the developers and their code. The concept of test-driven development is a very useful agile method of writing code to the requirements based on tests (Red/Green/Refactor). This has certainly changed my perspective towards development and want to thank James Newkirk for purveying this concept.
You need this book in your Agile Library!!!.......2005-07-30
Test-Driven Development in Microsoft.NET rises head and shoulders above the other books on the subject. While I know that is a very strong statement to make, the authors have made the focus of the book a very practical one. Don't get me wrong, there are several other great books on this subject, but they all seem to fall down when it comes to real-world situations.
The book is split into two parts; Part I is an overview of Test-Driven Development, and Part II covers using TDD to develop an example application.
Chapter 1 frames the entire discussion with an overview of Test-Driven Development concepts, including some straightforward guidelines for design. I thought it was laid out in very logical fashion.
Chapter 2 throws you right into the process it's a classic stack example, found in many other TDD books. What I liked most about it though, was that the chapter began with discussing HOW you start figuring out WHAT tests to write as you develop an application.
Chapter 3 covers another critical concept of TDD Refactoring. (What's Refactoring? You askread chapter 3 ;) ). Again, the authors walk you through a short yet concise primer using the Sieve of Eratosthenes implemented in C#. They introduce the algorithm and then discuss it in light of code refactoring techniques as implemented originally in Martin Fowler's Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code.
Chapter 4 is the introduction of the example application that will be the focus of the remainder of the book. It lays out the scenario, project features and constraints of the fictitious project.
Chapter 5 covers an area that I've found generates a ton of interest when developers start thinking about TDD, namely data access. I really appreciated the practical approach that the authors took when writing the implementation chapters for the example application. I found the tests surrounding entities and relationships and the resulting explanations to be very good.
Chapter 6 covers how you create tests when implementing Web Services. In the process, the service interface pattern is discussed along with refactoring Web Services. The authors attempt to lead you through a "thought framework" for creating tests through each of the implementation chapters.
Chapters 7, 8, and 9 make a shift from programmer testing to customer testing and cover differing aspects of customer or acceptance testing. This group of chapters starts with an overview of acceptance testing and techniques. The middle chapter deals with driving development up through the implemented layers from a user or customer perspective. Chapter 9 rounds out the discussion by focusing on handling faults and how acceptance testing allows you to tighten things up.
Chapter 10 leads us back to the programmer testing side by dealing with transactions. Following this, Chapter 11 introduces the reader to Service-level refactoring, leading you through the thought process behind different techniques. The story winds down in Chapter 12 with applying the process of TDD to implementing a web client.
All in all, while I'd have like to have seen a both a simpler example and always more "real world" tips and tricks, I can tell you from my own experience that finding that balance is extremely difficult. I believe the authors have made a significant attempt at striking the "real world" / simplicity balance and that the resulting outcome is an excellent resource for learning TDD. When that is combined with the level of effort the authors are putting in to maintaining the code and forums at their GotDotNet workspace, this makes Test-Driven Development in Microsoft .NET an excellent choice for your library.
Great Book for Experienced Developers.......2005-06-20
This is a great book for experienced developers. It covers a wide range of realistic uses in .NET and has plenty of detailed examples. It gets you into the mindset of Test-Driven Development (TDD) in good increments. The NUnit discussed is a free download and is very easy to start using with your own software quickly, so you can come up to speed right away and begin using it on your projects. One of the better TDD books that I have read, possibly the best. It will certainly remain on my bookshelf for some time.
Changes Your View.......2005-01-29
Many people think that Test-Driven Development (TDD) is all about testing software. In fact, test-driven development's main goal is not testing software, but aiding the programmer and customer during the development process with unambiguous requirements. The requirements are in the form of tests that the software must pass along the development process.
This procedure helps to insure that problems are found early and corrected while they are still small.
This book first discusses TDD from a conceptual point of view then gives a TDD example using a realistic application.
Book Description
Testing is usually the most expensive, time-consuming and difficult activity during the development of engineering products and systems. Development testing must be performed to ensure that designs meet requirements for performance, safety, durability, reliability, statutory aspects, etc. Most manufactured items must be tested to ensure that they are correctly made. However, much of the testing that is performed in industry is based upon traditions, standards and procedures that do not provide the optimum balance of assurance versus cost and time. There is often pressure to reduce testing because of the high costs involved, without appreciation of the effects on performance, reliability. etc. Misperceptions are commonplace, particularly the idea that tests should not stress products in excess of their operating levels.
The main reason for this situation seems to be that engineers have not developed a consistent philosophy and methodology for testing. Testing is seldom taught as part of engineering curricula, and there are no books on the subject. Specialist areas are taught, for example fatigue testing to mechanical engineers and digital device testing to electronics engineers. However, a wide range is untaught, particularly multidisciplinary and systems aspects. Testing is not just an engineering issue. Because of the importance and magnitude of the economic and business aspects testing is an issue for management. Testing is perceived as a high cost activity, when it should be considered as a value-adding process.
The objective of this book is, therefore, to propose a philosophy of engineering test and to describe the necessary technologies and methods that will provide a foundation for all plans, methods and decisions related to testing of engineered products and systems. The book will help those who must manage and conduct this most difficult and uncertain task. It will also provide a text which can be used as the basis for teaching the principles of testing to all engineering students.
Customer Reviews:
Critial information.......2002-07-23
It is the very first book (that I'm aware of) written for test engineers and managers. This book is an overview of all types of testing.
The author's philosophy is excellent.....
"The author has never found a company or a project where it was considered in retrospect by those involved that too much was spent on a development test programme." Test Engineering by Patrick D. T. O'Connor.
When you consider that Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, the Comet IV and the Challenger failed not because of negligence, but because critical data slipped through the cracks, or was misinterpreted, this book may just prevent that next tragic unknown from taking place. Or at least arm engineers, and managers, as to what is taking place.
Highly recommended, from one in the business.
A survey of test methods.......2002-01-21
I bought this book seeking practical information relating to testing of manufactured PCB assemblies. I found relatively little information on that subject, and the information I did find was of a general nature.
I got the impression that if you are interested in a survey of issues dealing with mechnaical failures, you might find more to like in this book.
Book Description
Functional verification remains one of the single biggest challenges in the development of complex system-on-chip (SoC) devices. Despite the introduction of successive new technologies, the gap between design capability and verification confidence continues to widen. The biggest problem is that these diverse new technologies have led to a proliferation of verification point tools, most with their own languages and methodologies.
Fortunately, a solution is at hand. SystemVerilog is a unified language that serves both design and verification engineers by including RTL design constructs, assertions and a rich set of verification constructs. SystemVerilog is an industry standard that is well supported by a wide range of verification tools and platforms. A single language fosters the development of a unified simulation-based verification tool or platform.
Consolidation of point tools into a unified platform and convergence to a unified language enable the development of a unified verification methodology that can be used on a wide range of SoC projects. ARM and Synopsys have worked together to define just such a methodology in the Verification Methodology Manual for SystemVerilog. This book is based upon best verification practices by ARM, Synopsys and their customers.
Verification Methodology Manual for SystemVerilog is a blueprint for verification success, guiding SoC teams in building a reusable verification environment taking full advantage of design-for-verification techniques, constrained-random stimulus generation, coverage-driven verification, formal verification and other advanced technologies to help solve their current and future verification problems.
This book is appropriate for anyone involved in the design or verification of a complex chip or anyone who would like to know more about the capabilities of SystemVerilog. Following the Verification Methodology Manual for SystemVerilog will give SoC development teams and project managers the confidence needed to tape out a complex design, secure in the knowledge that the chip will function correctly in the real world.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent theoretical text. Probably not the best starting point.......2007-06-01
This is a very good book. However, as a newcomer to VMM, I initially got more out of "A Pragmatic Approach to VMM Adoption" by Cohen, Venkataramanan and Kumari. I use both books extensively. Since reading "A Pragmatic Approach", Bergeron's book is much more understandable and useful.
VMM is difficult.......2007-01-16
The book starts off fairly well through the first three chapters. Then all of a sudden it makes a huge leap and it becomes very difficult to follow. There are a lot of very advanced topics that require a lot of object oriented programming experience to understand. On my second reading I saw that even Janick says that he does not expect you to understand VMM on the first reading.
A class based methodology is a complex topic and the VMM book does not do much to make it any easier. If you are a C++ (or something similar) guru, then you might enjoy this book. Otherwise, save your money and download the white papers from the web.
Great book to learn about VMM........2006-08-31
I got this book at work to learn about VMM and the use of it.
It covers high level concepts and recommendations on developing a successful verification environment. It does not teach you the syntax or the basics of System Verilog. Beside teaching you these high level concepts, it covers in detail the use of the VMM base classes offered with Synopsys' VCS tools.
The book has code example in each topic covered which will make it easier to understand.
The topics covered include, but not limited to, Verification planning, assertions, testbench infrastructure, stimulus/response and coverage.
If you are using VMM in your development, then this book is definitely the manual that goes with it.
A must have for a successful verification engineer working with VMM. (6 out of 5 stars)
Customer Reviews:
Unprofessional Mediocre Work.......2007-08-18
The author of this book indirectly calls the reader cluck, uses the word loser and that's just in chapter one of the 4th edition. I maybe young, but I refute this sort of garbage. You can't smile at anything that has this putrid element. People like Popham induce students to have low self-esteem and probably become criminals. It's shocking to know that a well-known publishing company and God-knows how many universities require this book for their students. Does Popham want us future teachers to call our students CLUCKS! This is outrageous! This makes our educational system appear like a circus. I don't care how proficient an English teacher Popham is, in my book, Popham is an anti-educator. Inferior mental processes have no space in our schools. I choose to be an educator not a CLUCK!!!
If you want to see improvement in your student's progress you've gotta get this book!!!!.......2007-07-14
Before reading this book, I was at a loss in my classroom as to how to use assessments to monitor progress, evaluate my instructional methods, and to be sure that students were mastering the content. Mr. Popham gives precise research based strategies to do ALL these things and MORE. Most books on assessment are dry and so dense you loathe having to read them but Mr. Popham exceeded my expectations in this respect. I don't know how he did it but the text is informational and humorous at the same time. I actually laughed out loud at some of his expressions...I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! I would suggest this text for any school district that wants to understand the fallibility of standardized/high-stakes tests and wants to be sure that students learn the content represented on these tests and not just how to take the test.
Informative and funny.......2007-06-27
I'm writing this in response to a couple of other reviewers who didn't like the author's writing style. I'm currently using this book for a class, and I'm thrilled to actually be enjoying a textbook for a change. I find the comments hilarious. In addition, the book offers good, practical advice, with very little useless background information. I'm finding this book a totally refreshing change from what I've been subjected to in education textbooks so far.
Got book in great shape and fast........2007-06-08
The book is in great condition and it got to me the fastest of all the books I ordered at the same time.
Popham Knows Best.......2007-02-26
Just what the professor ordered! Geat condition and arrived ahead of schedule!
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| Education
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