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Subject: RE: TA definition (formerly: surviving the winter break)
- From: david_marston@us.ibm.com
- To: tag-discuss@lists.oasis-open.org
- Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:41:02 -0500
Jacques Durand wrote:
>In any case
and to avoid controversy at charter level, I would propose to replace the
def of TA as:
>"A test assertion (TA), also
sometimes defined as test specification, is understood in this charter
with the following general meaning: it describes the expected output or
behavior for an implementation under some specific operation conditions,
in a way that can be measured or tested. Each test assertion is an independent,
complete, testable statement for requirements in the specification. Test
assertions are generally different from test cases, which are more detailed
and contingent to a concrete test framework: TAs are the basis to write
test cases, and relate the latter to the narrative of the target specification."
>Anyone disagrees?
I like this definition because it avoids
the discussion of preconditions vs. stimulus, relying only on the very
bland "operation conditions" to describe the situation in which
a behavior may be expected. It also avoids stating whether that behavior
is always the end result of a test case (that could be evaluated as pass/fail/whatever)
or might sometimes be a condition that can be used for compounding TAs.
I suspect that the TC would want to discuss those issues deeply, so it's
best if the charter does not presume any design philosophy at that level.
In other words, the TC would probably
want to have lively discussions about how many different kinds of
contingencies and results should be defined. These discussions will affect
sequencing of the parts of a test and how compounding of TAs might affect
the sequence. Is a state model always needed? It's best if the definition
of a TA (and indeed, the whole charter) makes no assumptions on these topics.
.................David Marston
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