Re: Length of unbounded_string.

["Dmitry A. Kazakov" <mailbox@dmitry-kazakov.de>]

On Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:31:03 +0200, Georg Bauhaus wrote:

> OK, bad phrasing. Parts of a program that can be run in
> isolation from the rest of the program, to see some effect,

That is modularity. The purpose of having it modular is not directly
testing.

Also the way components/modules are factored out may help testing or hinder
testing. E.g. you could develop modules in order to run the program in
parallel, which would make testing significantly more difficult.

>>> *) writing tests means documenting and verifying assumptions.
>> 
>> It does not.
>> 
>> A proper statement should sound like: the software must be developed in a
>> way that would make it testable.
> 
> OK, but testable is another void. (What is the meaning of
> "testable" without invoking more definitions, recursively,

It means that the design must allow testing for certain (specified upfront)
properties of the software. Modularity is just a part of this equation.
Think about integration tests.

>> This has little to do with either documentation or understanding of a
>> *given* implementation, just a separate issue.
> 
> Interesting, but I had not meant to say something about existing
> software that wasn't developed with testing all along driving
> the writing process.

Even so, the way software is used and understood differs from those while
testing. Compare testing a computer game and playing it, testing a music
record for defects and listening it etc.

If testing would improve understanding then only because more time is
invested in dealing with the program, not because testing helps it better
than, for example, core review.

BTW, 1. programmer, 2. tester, 3. technical writer classically are
different roles.

-- 
Regards,
Dmitry A. Kazakov
http://www.dmitry-kazakov.de