Just how critical is testing to the success of a software project? And how can you make these tests simple yet maintainable, flexible, and efficient? This unique book offers essays from 25 leading software testers that illustrate the qualities and techniques necessary to make testing an art in itself. Through personal anecdotes, you'll learn how each of these professionals developed best practices for testing a wide range of software projects involving XMPP, GUI tools, Open Map applications, and more. Topics of this book include: OLPC project testing - Mel Chua (The Open Planning Project); Open Maps application testing - Steve Coast (founder of OpenStreetMap); AbiWord open source app testing - Kamran Khan (AbiWord word processor); GNU Compiler Collection tool testing - Mark Mitchell (GCC); GUI Tools - Adam Christian and Mikeal Rogers (OSAF/Mozilla); Python Language testing - Neal Norwitz; Network testing frameworks - Jim Walker (OpenSolaris); and, XMPP Protocol testing - Remko Troncon (Jabber). ''Beautiful Testing'' provides you with knowledge gained from years of experience that you can put to the test on your own projects.