To get the most out of this book

There are two ways to read this book.

The first is to use it as a reference when you are faced with specific testing challenges. Use the index to find what you’re after and move to that page.

The second, and the one I’d recommend starting with, is to follow the walk-throughs step by step, building your own code base as you go along. The companion GitHub repository has a directory for each chapter (such as Chapter01) and then, within that, three directories:

• Start, which is the starting point for the chapter, and you should start here if you’re following along.
• Exercises, which is the point at the end of the chapter where the exercises begin. You should start here if you’re attempting the exercises in each chapter. (Note that not every chapter has exercises.)
• Complete, which contains completed solutions to all the exercises.

You will need to be at least a little proficient with Git; a basic understanding of the branch, checkout, clone, commit, diff, and merge commands should be sufficient.

Take a look at the README.md file in the GitHub repository for more information and instructions on working with the code base.

If you are using the digital version of this book, we advise you to type the code yourself or access the code from the book’s GitHub repository (a link is available in the next section). Doing so will help you avoid any potential errors related to the copying and pasting of code.