Closing the communication gap...

Facilitating communication among businesspeople and software developers in the preparation of acceptance tests is the mail goal of Fit, which also helps automate those tests. A tabular representation of tests provides the common language whose clarity and precision are key to improving communication between technical and non-technical people. As Dave Thomas says, Fit helps closing the "gap between the software that [is] written and the software the user [wants]".

Clearly written in an informal style and easy to follow, this is a good book for learning the use of an interesting tool: Fit. It actually contains two separate books written for different audiences. The first half of the book is written for non-programmers and teaches how to define the functionality of a system using Fit tables. The second half is written for the programmers who will prepare the fixtures that mediate between the Fit tables and the system under test, so that testing can be automated.

Hype warning: Although the authors do a great job motivating the reasons for using Fit, they tend to mix the benefits of using their tool with those coming from the application of good development practices (extreme programming practices, in particular).

Other Reviews

• Excellent Test book
• Terrific book on a terrific testing concept
• Good solid tutorial
• Essential reading for what's likely to be a revolution in software development
• Closing the communication gap...