Re: Testing relational databases
Date: 10 Jul 2006 08:41:32 -0700
Message-ID: <1152546092.694971.15950_at_h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>
[ snippage ]
> For example, Praxis CS (safety-critical s/w developers) showed on one
> project
> quite significant ROI on defect prevention and detection by using
> proof-based
> techniques, compared to the usual test approaches (unit testing etc) .
>
>
I came across the Praxis/SPARK stuff when checking out an assertion I was about to make about Ada's semantics on another thread, and I have to say I was massively heartened to find a company that took provability and formal correctness so seriously. More power to their elbow says I, even if they are landed with Ada, and have to subset it fairly brutally to get to a subset that can have formal proofs worked out for it. Their paper where they list some reasons why they encounter resistance when trying to introduce their methods was a saddening comment on our industry, though.
[ snippage ]
>
> TDD : write some code to make a test pass.
> That is not "designed for testing" .
>
Another question is, who designs the tests ? Programmers are notorious for testing to "prove" that their software works. Testers (when available) are notorious for testing to "prove" that the same software fails. Who would you rather have design your tests ? Received on Mon Jul 10 2006 - 17:41:32 CEST