Hi Jay,

Here are 2 books I enjoyed. I'm not sure if they're the best XP (Extreme Programming) books out there, but they were significant enough for me to begin re-thinking my design, development, and testing methodologies from scratch.

Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change (The XP Series) -- Kent Beck

Extreme Programming Installed (The XP Series) -- Ron Jeffries, et al.

Both of these books are in paperback format and they're very easy to read. Not a lot of scientific mumbo jumbo, theory or statistics - just some basic 'common sense type' wisdom with some (IMHO) reasonable rationalizations.

If you decide to explore further, I would enjoy discussing the topics in more detail.

Also, if you're really curious (or have time to burn on a Friday!), visit the www.extremeprogramming.org web site and surf around. Lots of 'nuggets' - some good and some contraverisal enough to 'think on' for a bit.

Regards,
Malcolm


>Malcolm --
>
>How have you found xTreme programming useful for you? Any particular titles?
>
>One publisher has a whole series of books out on the topic. For the curious bystander, I'd think that one book should suffice to cover the basic approach <g>.
>
> Jay
>
>
>>Fred,
>>
>>For some great thoughts on testing and integrating testing into your programming efforts 'holistically' vs. formalizing testing as a seperate and independent phase of development, read up on Extreme Programming.
>>
>>For a good start there's www.extremeprogramming.org.
>>
>>And/or go to Amazon and search on the topic 'Extreme Programming' and read the reviews.
>>
>>Although not a book about testing per se, the work 'The Mythical Man Month' is a classic for analyzing ratios and estimating time lines. Worth reading in and of itself.
>>
>>The above advice aside, my experience on working on large software projects at big corporations is the following:
>>
>>- Testing budgeted at 10-15% of project effort
>>- Time required for actual testing - 25-40% of project effort
>>
>>Good topic - I'm interested in following this thread.
>>
>>Regards,
>>Malcolm
>>
>>
>>>>Is a general estimate of the ratio of programming time to testing time?
>>>
>>>Let's try this in English.
>>>
>>>Are there any general rules or guide lines covering the amount of testing time in regards to development time (actual programming hours)?