Introduction 引言

The risk of software failure has never been greater. The estimated annual economic impact ranges from $60 billion for poor testing to $100 billion in lost revenues and increased costs. Unfortunately, market pressure for the delivery of new functionality and applications has also never been stronger. This combination creates increasing pressure on software test organizations to improve test coverage while meeting ever-shorter deadlines with static or even declining resources. The only practical means to achieving quality goals within the constraints of schedules and budgets is to automate.

软件失效的风险从未如此巨大。根据估计，糟糕的测试每年造成多达600亿到1000亿美元的经济损失。不幸的是，新的功能和应用交付市场的压力，也从来没有如此强大。导致软件测试组织越来越大的压力，为了在提高测试覆盖率的同时满足短时间的交付与降低资源占用。为实现质量目标的时间表和预算限制内的唯一可行的办法是实现自动化。

Since software testing is a labor-intensive task, especially if done thoroughly, automation sounds instantly appealing. But, as with anything, there is a cost associated with getting the benefits. Automation isn't always a good idea, and sometimes manual testing is out of the question.The key is to know what the benefits and costs really are, then to make an informed decision about what is best for your circumstances.

由于软件测试是劳动密集的任务，特别是一旦贯彻落实下去，自动化将瞬间极具吸引力。但是，与任何事物一样，有得必有失。自动化并不总是适用的，有时候手工测试也是同样适用的.关键的是要知道确切的收益和成本是多少，然后根据自身的实际情况做出明智的决策。

The unfortunate fact is that many test automation projects fail, even after significant expenditures of time, money and resources. The goal of this book is to improve your chances of being among the successful.

不幸的是，即使付出了大量的时间，金钱和资源，仍然存在许多测试自动化项目的失败的情况。这本书的目标是提高你自动化项目成功的可能性。