Of text-books, about which we hear so much, I never felt the
want. I do not even remember having made much use of the books
that were available. I did not find it at all necessary to load the boys
with quantities of books. I have always felt that the true text-book
for the pupil is his teacher. I remember very little that my teachers
taught me from books, but I have even now a clear recollection of the
things they taught me independently of books.”
— Mahatma Gandhi, in 1948 book, An Autobiography
or The Story of My Experiments With Truth [238].
Now that you have picked up this book we want to convince you that it will help
you. “To err is human,” is an age-old excuse for sloppy work. Yet, while accepting imperfect products from others, we desire perfection. How can an imperfect human turn out a perfect product? Here is the formula: Algorithm: Perfect Repeat until tested perfect:{Redesign;Remake;}
Two points are relevant. First, the test should be designed to truly indicate the desired perfection, and second, the repeat loop in our algorithm will repeat indefinitely unless redesign and remake could respond to or correct the errors found in testing.
Understanding the art and science of testing allows you to attain perfection in your work, otherwise an almost superhuman task. If we have convinced you that reading this book is worth your time, we caution you that this book covers only testing of analog and digital electronic systems with very large scale integration (VLSI.)