Re: RATIONAL TESTMATE for ADA Testing - Any experiences to share ?

[Ray Blaak <blaak@infomatch.com>]

"David Akister" <dakister@compd.com> writes:

> I would like to know if anyone  can share experience of using the Rational
> Testmate tool with Rational Apex on UNIX. Of particular interest is the
> management of code units, time taken developing and modifying test-sets and
> flexibility of the system.

I have used it on a large air traffic control project, and found it quite
useful for unit testing within a subsystem. One can test against expected
outputs, or write general test drivers that set pass/fail explicitly.  If one
controls the test outputs under CMVC, then one has a nice historical record of
how tests pass/fail.

Time taken developing tests is rather dependent on the unit being tested,
rather than testmate itself (basically, testmate doesn't really get in the
way). Testing code should be considered as official software units that get
carefully developed with future maintenance and enhancements in mind, reviewed
as part of the unit, and need to be budgeted accordingly. (The biggest mistake
I saw was to see testing code written as if it was throw-away code -- it never
was, and all too often cut/paste/spaghetti code need to be enhanced to test new
unit changes).

The best feature of testmate that I liked was the code coverage analysis, which
highlights those code regions not executed in a test.

Basically, testmate is a good tool, but one also needs a good development
process to enforce 1) that things are tested at all, 2) how they are tested
(i.e. what information needs to be in the test output, and what is deemed
sufficient coverage, etc.), and 3) what kinds of test information needs to be
saved.

> Oh, and before I forget how does the system compare with other test suites
> for ADA testing such as ADATEST and LDRA (for coverage metrics) ?

I have not used them.

-- 
Cheers,                                        The Rhythm is around me,
                                               The Rhythm has control.
Ray Blaak                                      The Rhythm is inside me,
blaak@infomatch.com                            The Rhythm has my soul.