Re: Draft of Test Policy web page

From: Hubert.Holin_at_[hidden]
Date: 2001-01-30 17:25:39

paris (U.E.), le 30/01/2001

        I do not feel that the following requirement is well suited to 
numerical algorithms:

 ----- ******* ----- 
Test programs must report errors by returning a non-zero value.  They 
may also write to stdout or stderr, but that output should be 
relatively brief.  Regardless of other output, a non-zero return value 
is the only way the regression test framework will recognize an error 
has occurred. 
 ----- ******* ----- 

        The problem, I believe, is that examination of the actual output, 
in sufficient quantity, may be the only real way to assess the quality 
of the algorithm, when combined with a specific processor/compiler/
libraries. Case in point: Motorola was said to have shipped at some 
point a floating point library which was blazing fast for their 
processor, but at the expense of precision (which was reported to be 
catastrophic). This is a case where perhaps another method should be 
used to compute the result we are interested in, for this conbination.

        Of course one could pre-compute the output and hard-code the 
results...

        I guess this is not a case of failure versus success, but of 
shades of success, so perhaps this kind of algorithms should not be 
tested by the Boost regression test framework.

                Hubert Holin
                Hubert.Holin_at_[hidden]

--- In boost_at_y..., Beman Dawes <bdawes_at_a...> wrote:
> There is a draft of a Boost Test Policy and Protocols page up at 
> http://www.boost.org/more/test_policy.htm.
> 
> (This page isn't "live" yet; there are no links to it from elsewhere on the 
> site, and the links on the page won't all work.)
> 
> It includes a bit of speculation - references to Boost test related 
> libraries that haven't been accepted yet.
> 
> Comments appreciated.
> 
> --Beman