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My main gripe with the book is that it didn't give me any of the "but of course!" moments that I was constantly encountering when reading the original Pragmatic Programmer book. After finishing the first book, I felt that Andy and Dave had melted away the myth and legend around being a top software developer and laid it bare in far simpler terms. None of this sense of alchemy struck me having read Pragmatic Unit Testing.

Having said that, I couldn't think of a better introductory text for someone first wanting/needing to gain some knowledge about the art of writing effective unit tests. Covered from a Java development perspective (although a C# version of the text is available for "the other team" :-)), the text provides a very solid introduction into the use of JUnit as a unit testing framework.

My favourite Java unit testing text is JUnit in Action by Vincent Massel, and whilst Pragmatic Unit Testing does not cover anywhere near as much techical depth as the former (especially in the area of JUnit derivatives such as HttpUnit and Cactus), it does include more of the theory behind building a quality test suite and what properties such a beast should exhibit. This emphasis is what makes the book such a good choice for someone who has not done much/any unit testing before. For a more experienced testing, JUnit In Action will be a far more satisfying and valuable read.

Like all the books in this series, it is commendably short and succint, the language is informal and the sequencing of chapters logical and well thought out. And for a novice unit testingg developer, the minimal investment in time and money will pay handsomely in a very short period of time... after which a more exhaustive reference guide might be appropriate.