[DOCS] SUnit tests (was Re: Documentation [was: Morphic
tutorial])
Hannes Hirzel
hannes.hirzel.squeaklist at bluewin.ch
Thu Feb 13 11:55:46 UTC 2003
Stephane,
------------
Unit Tests
------------
Stephane Ducasse <ducasse at iam.unibe.ch> wrote:
He was
> > pointing to
> > "code based" documentation which I interpret as a documentation of the
> > implementation rather than the architecture.
>
> Yes
Thank you for pointing out once again the importance of unit tests ;-)
> For me test should tell some small scenario in terms of the object
> interfaces
> as you want to have a low speed change for tests.
>
> Of course when there is a vicious point having a simple test is always
> cool to catch it after.
> Just a fun and true story. Alex wrote during the last two months an
> implementation
> of a module system for smalltalk. He wrote all kind of tests that
> capture the semantics we wanted. Then we discussed with steven and
> realized that his implementation was cooler. Alex reimplemented the
> core model in ***one afternoon*** and told me: "this is fascinating because
> all the tests run so the model should work. amazing." and it was
> working.
(Emphasis HH)
> That's the power of tests. Specifying behavior. After this is clear
> that you have to take care
> about the granularity you want to have.
Questions / Notes
May I ask you to send in as a convenience the URL to your 5 pages
intro paper to Unit tests.
A unit test browser is now included in the 3.4 release.
Implementin a test is as easy as adding your own TestCase subclass in
the category you are working.
It shows up automatically in the UnitTest-Browser.
As an aid for the documentation people:
Stephane, where do you see the most urgent need for additional tests?
(a list with priorities if possible)
---------------
Architecture
---------------
> > Architectural issues (like how
> > things "should" be - notice the use of phrases like "typically" or "by
> > default" in the little blurb I wrote) cannot be covered by unit tests
> > very
> > well.
> Indeed this could be a pain.
------------------
HOW-TOs
------------------
> > Similarly to "usage information" (e.g., how-to) since tests typically
> > have the wrong "usage density" (e.g., there should be tests for all the
> > #addMorph: variants none of which tells you that "the way to go" is to
> > use
> > #addMorph: - tests actually can be confusing for this kind of
> > information).
> > I'm sure Stephane is well aware of this.
Regards
Hannes
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