Re: A simple unit test framework

From:

James Kanze <james.kanze@gmail.com>

Newsgroups:

comp.lang.c++

Date:

5 May 2007 18:06:01 -0700

Message-ID:

<1178413561.048289.278620@y5g2000hsa.googlegroups.com>

On May 6, 1:27 am, Gianni Mariani <gi3nos...@mariani.ws> wrote:

Pete Becker wrote:

...

Yup. Typical developer-written test: I don't understand testing well
enough to do it right, so I'll do something random and hope to hit a
problem. <g>

I have yet to meet a "test" developer that can beat the monte carlo test
for coverage.

OK - I agree, there are cases where a monte-carlo test will never be
able to test adequately, but as a rule, it is better to have a MC test
than not. I have uncovered more legitimate problems from the MC test
than from carefully crafted tests.

Which proves that you don't have anyone who knows how to write
tests. A carefully crafted test will, by definition, find any
problem that a MC test will find.

In my experience, the main use of MC tests is to detect when
your tests aren't carefully crafted. Just as the main use of
testing is to validate your process---anytime a test reveals an
error, it is a sign that there is a problem in the process, and
that the process needs improvement.

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