Re: Testing relational databases
Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 17:27:20 +0100
Message-ID: <e8turo$7dp$1_at_nntp.aioe.org>
"Tony D" <tonyisyourpal_at_netscape.net> wrote in message news: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.
They have to.
All the projects they are involved on demands proof (sic) that they have
the processes required to undertake the projects they work on.
Dunno whether there is a financial cost though (loss of business due to the cost of their skills compared to other shops etc) .
> 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.
Indeed.
The industry divide is quite clear at times. There are people who want to be akin to "master craftsmen" of yore. And there are those who wish to akin to the engineers of other fields.
> [ 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 ?
Rhetorical question. :-)
But if the former take time to learn the basic methods of the latter, they
can
easily become the latter.
Regards,
Steven Perryman
Received on Mon Jul 10 2006 - 18:27:20 CEST