Prior Art - wiki updated - notes attached

[Paul Rank <Paul.Rank@Sun.COM>]

I've updated the Prior Art section of the wiki with a couple links 
provided by Stephen.  Attached are my notes/summary of the items we now 
have in th prior art section.
Paul

Title: TAG prior art

Prior art (examples of test assertions)

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Test Assertion Documents for WS-I profiles (2003-2005)

• Test assertions for the WS-I Basic Profile definition
• Test Assertion consists of:
  • ID
  • Entry Type - definitions | types | operation | portType | binding | import
  • Test Type - required | recommended | driverTestable | informational | notTestable
  • Enabled - true | false
  • Additional Entry Types
    • Message Input
    • WSDL Input
  • Prerequisites
  • Profile Requirements
    • Target
    • Partial-Target
    • Collateral
  • Context
  • Assertion Description
  • Failure Message
  • Failure Detail Description
  • Comment

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HTML 4.01 Test Suite - Assertions (2002)

• Test Assertion consists of:
  • ID
  • Reference (pointer to the spec)
  • Assertion text
  • Tests
• Assertion text is prefaced by (may), (must), (informative) or (should)
• Assertion text is sometimes prefaced by (author)

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Sample marked-up chapter from the Java Language Specification (JLSv3)

• Assertions identified as text within specification
• "Simple" Sun model - test assertion consists of:
  • An ID
  • A string of text
  • A pointer to the location in the specification
• Similar approach is used at Sun for JavaDoc based specs (API)

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SOAP Version 1.2 Specification Assertions and Test Collection (2003)

• Test Assertion consists of:
  • ID
  • Location of the assertion (pointer to the location in the spec)
  • Text from the Specification
  • Comments
  • Tests - pointer to the tests for this assertion

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DejaGnu Testing Framework - A POSIX conforming test framework

• POSIX standard 1003.3 defines what a testing framework needs to provide, in order to permit the creation of POSIX conformance test suites. Can not find a link to POSIX 1003.3
• The POSIX documentation refers to assertions. An assertion is a description of behavior. For example, if a standard says "The sun shall shine", a corresponding assertion might be "The sun is shining." A test based on this assertion would pass or fail depending on whether it is daytime or nighttime.
• 1003.3 specifies a set of allowed output messages, and their definitions:
  • PASS
  • FAIL
  • UNRESOLVED
  • UNRESOLVED
  • UNTESTED
  • UNSUPPORTED (conditional)

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Unisoft - Glossary of Assertion Based Testing Terms

• Contains a set of terms which are useful when developing assertion based tests - aligned with POSIX 1003.3
• Assertion Definition - A statement of behavior for an element to be tested. These are normally derived from text describing software to be tested (the specification).
• Many other terms defined - worthwhile to review

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Guidelines on Abstract Test Suites and Conformance Clauses - Norwegian Technology Standards Institution

• Structure Abstract Test Suite (ATS) in a clear, hierarchical way.
• Document explains how to generate ATS
  • Identify test purpose- "what does your part of the standard specify?"
  • decompose test purpose - Need to answer: "For an implementation to be in conformance to the test purpose specified, what
    requirements have to be satisfied?"
  • Repeat identify an decompose until all test purposes are decomposed into sufficiently small pieces
• The ATS is then used to define the testable assertions.

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