Re: [boost] Re: Boost.Assertion

From: Jeremy Siek (jsiek_at_[hidden])
Date: 2001-04-19 18:07:39

Integrating design by contract and testing sounds like a great idea to
me!!!

One way this can tie into generic programming is the following:
  - When creating a concept, write C++ code for checking the 
    semantic invariants required by the concept.
  - Then the test code for a particular type should automatically
    pull in the checks from the concepts that the type models.

A month ago I started applying this kind of approach to the 
BGL graph concepts and data-structures, and so far I think it
is working really well!

Cheers,
Jeremy

On Thu, 19 Apr 2001, Ullrich Koethe wrote:
u.koet> Hi!
u.koet> 
u.koet> Jesse Jones wrote:
u.koet> > 
u.koet> > I've uploaded a new version of the DbC files. 
u.koet> 
u.koet> I've followed the discussion with great interest. Since I've been
u.koet> working (with Beman) on an improved unit test facility, it occured to me
u.koet> that it might be a good idea to integrate unit testing and Design by
u.koet> Contract. This would have at least two advantages:
u.koet> 
u.koet> 1. Avoidance of code duplication - many things in the unit test
u.koet> framework are similar to what you are trying to achieve.
u.koet> 
u.koet> 2. Simplification of DbC: From the discussion so far I got the
u.koet> impression that especially invariant testing imposes some problems in
u.koet> C++. Thus, it might be a useful policy, to check invariants primarily in
u.koet> test programs, and not in production code. This would solve two
u.koet> problems:
u.koet> 
u.koet>   - costly invariant checks do no harm in test programs
u.koet>   - it is easy to solve the accessibility issue by declaring the 
u.koet>     tester class a friend of the class being tested.
u.koet> 
u.koet> Please take a look at the proposed unit test code at
u.koet> 
u.koet> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/boost/files/unittest/
u.koet> 
u.koet> Any opinions will be appreciated.
u.koet>   
u.koet> -- Ulli 
u.koet>  ________________________________________________________________
u.koet> |                                                                |
u.koet> | Ullrich Koethe  Universität Hamburg / University of Hamburg    |
u.koet> |                 FB Informatik / Dept. of Computer Science      |
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
 Jeremy Siek                        www: http://www.lsc.nd.edu/~jsiek/
 Ph.D. Candidate                  email: jsiek_at_[hidden]
 Univ. of Notre Dame         work phone: [phone]
----------------------------------------------------------------------