Re: [tag] some thoughts and comments from reading a month worth ofmessages

["Dave Pawson" <dave.pawson@gmail.com>]

On 22/09/2007, stephen.green@systml.co.uk <stephen.green@systml.co.uk> wrote:
> I agree that a test error is out of scope. If the test has an error
> that is hardly the concern of this generalized TA. It is something
> for the test itself to cover.
>
> I'm not sure that applies to a test being inapplicable though - the
> outcome of a condition not being met. So if conditions are not met
> in a flow the flow might stop or take a particular branch.

All that is internal to the test, hence the domain of the test developer.
At the TA level it is all part of the test.
A condition being met or not is just a test carried out in order
to determine the test outcome.

If the
> conditions are not met in an overall TA the TA is inconclusive.

I disagree with that. If some interim test, internal to the defined TA/TEST
fails, then it is likely that the entire TEST fails.
There are generally only two options. Pass and other. Anything
other than a full pass is by default a TEST fail.

I'm using UC for the TEST as an entity. It may be implemented as
480 lines of code, but together it implements a TEST as agreed
with the design authority.

I'm using a definition of TA as this level of TEST.



> So maybe we can define how a whole TA

Not until we agree at what level of abstraction the TA relates to a test
(or TEST as I've used it above :-)


reaches results of pass, fail
> or inconclusive. Then we can say for a step in a flow the step value
> can be pass, fail or something else

You might. I never would. I'd consider that ineffective testing.
Pass or other|fail. No other choices, else go back and re-define the TEST!



> Can a TA overall evaluate to true/false or is it always going to be
> pass/fail/inconclusive (inconclusive being an outcome of conditions
> not being met on certain steps)?

Just pass and fail. Why has it failed? See the test results.



regards




-- 
Dave Pawson
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