Testing exceptions

kavitak — Sun, 25 Jan 2004 22:32:00 GMT

Keith Stobie, a test architect on the Indigo team has an interesting article on testing exceptions.

Though it is important to verify that the correct exceptions get raised when incorrect data is passed to a function, it is also important to check the state after the exception has happened. What happens when you pass incorrect data, get an exception (which is a expected result for your test), and try to pass correct data - do you still get the exception; if so, you know the method didnt clean its state propertly. Most people miss verifying post-conditions. Verifying that things return to normal can lead to some interesting bugs.

Testing with ASML

kavitak — Sun, 25 Jan 2004 22:25:00 GMT

ASML - Abstract State Machine Language is a technique being used in Microsoft by a few test teams to test their features. It is an executable specification language that is based on abstract state machines. The research team at Microsoft has integrated this into Word and VS.NET and made the language interoperable with other .NET languages. You can compare the model with the implementation side-by-side to verify the implementation in terms of input/output or state transitions at each step. I had attended a talk on it 1.5 years back, and they didnt have test tools at the time. Now they also have test tools that help you generate tests by doing paramter generation and different test sequences from your model. This is great for testers, I have got to get on the bandwagon and see if it can do something for me. Planning on using it for a feature in Indigo I am going to be responsible for testing in March.

For more info on ASML, go here.

Kavitak's WebLog : Testing

Testing exceptions

Testing with ASML