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quality assurance, software testing
This past October, I was saddened to learn of Boris Beizer's death. I knew he was unwell and had been unwell for a while, but I had no idea he was doing so poorly. I was just in touch with Boris a few months earlier, when I introduced him via email to a colleague who was hoping to get him to update a version of one of the founding books of software testing, Software Testing Techniques. I was hopeful there would soon be new editions of this, as well as another founding book Boris wrote, Software System Testing and Quality Assurance. Alas, if those great books are ever updated, it will be without Boris's direct participation.
Software testing is the profession it is today in large part due to his influence. No one matches the extent to which Boris's ideas radiated into the software testing field and had an immense impact on it, right at the moment in time when software testing became a recognized profession. We were all lucky to have such an insightful genius present at the creation of the profession. I feel especially lucky to have benefited from his direct mentorship.
I read Boris's books toward the beginning of my career in professional testing in the late 1980s, when they were sources of great guidance to me. Later, when I decided to try my hand at writing books myself, I asked Boris to review my first book as I wrote it. Fortunately, Boris was gracious enough to agree. In his mid-60s, during hours he could have spent sailing and doing the other things he loved, he spent time reading my first two books and making constructive comments. The successful publication of those two books changed the trajectory of my career, and to the extent that I have subsequently made contributions to this profession, I could not have done it without his help. In fact, I can't imagine the last 20 years...