Re: [boost] Boost Test Tools Library Proposal

From: Ullrich Koethe (koethe_at_[hidden])
Date: 2000-12-07 18:03:14

Thomas Matelich wrote:
> I've just looked over unittest.h.  It provides more structure than test_tools.hpp, a nice job of
> obtaining the minimal xUnit functionality.  I think, considering boost's opinions of compiler
> support, the setjmp/longjmp and can't catch signals version should be able to be eliminated.

I don't see how the setjmp/longjmp version could be elimiated (it
probably needs some portability additions, though). The "can't-catch
variant" is present as a last resort for compilers that don't support a
mechanism to catch signals. I've found catching of signals very useful
to quickly locate out-of-bounds access to an array and the like. Without
the setjmp/longjmp, the test propgram would just crash without giving
further information about what happened.

> Here are the tests I would want to see in this tool:
> assert -- or should, accepts bool

This is provided by the current should().

> assertEquals -- with special overloads, esp. double w/ allowed error
> assertThrows -- perhaps templatized.  I feel this is very 
> important, especially for a library.
> 

This can be added without problems. Currently, I'm doing

  // emulate assertEquals()
  should(int_result == 100);
  double epsilon = 0.00001;
  should(std::abs(double_result - 100.1) < epsilon);

and

  // emulate assertThrows()
  try
  {
     somethingThatThrows();
     failTest("somethingThatThrows() failed to throw!");
  }
  catch(MyException & e) // other exceptions are not expected here
  {
     should(strcmp(e.what(), "my error message") == 0);
  }

Of course, this could be further encapsulated. Up to now, I haven't felt
an urgent need to do so, but if "unittest.h" would be accepted into
boost, I certainly would be willing to consider this.

Ulli 
-- 
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| Ullrich Koethe  Universität Hamburg / University of Hamburg    |
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