Re: Write up of test assertion extraction methodology

Hi Dom,

Please see my comment below.


On Dec 15, 2009, at 4:52 PM, Dominique Hazael-Massieux wrote:

> Hi Dmitri,
>
> Le lundi 14 décembre 2009 à 19:58 +0300, Dmitri Silaev a écrit :
>> Here is my comments for "Extracting Test Assertions from a
>> Specification" document.
>
> Thanks very much for your comments; my responses embedded below.
> http://dev.w3.org/2008/dev-ind-testing/extracting-test-assertions-pub.html
>
>> I. "3. Mark-up conventions for test assertions"
>>
>> "Each assertion is uniquely identified through the id attribute on  
>> the
>> paragraph element; the unique identifier starts by convention with
>> ta-, and its uniqueness is ensured by the HTML validity requirements
>> of the document."
>>
>> Is it useful to explain the best practice how to get the assertion  
>> the
>> unique assertion id? For example, "its uniqueness generated randomly
>> is ensured..." It saves reader from solving the riddle what
>> "RRZxvvTFHx" means.
>
> I clarified that by mentioning the strings were randomly generated,  
> and
> that their length wasn’t exactly a feature :)
>
>> II. "4. Extracting automatically test assertions"
>>
>> "The original extraction of test assertions was made through an XSLT
>> style sheet, that allowed to generate a static list of test  
>> assertions
>> that served as the first basis for the review of the testability of
>> the specification."
>>
>> I believe it need to be explained where the extraction was made, e.g.
>> "When "Widgets Packaging and Configuration" specification was marked
>> up by convention said before, the original extraction of test
>> assertions was made through an XSLT style sheet,..."
>
> I’ve tried to clarify that, but I’m not sure if it addresses your
> comment:
>        When the specification was initially marked up using the
>        conventions described above, the extraction of test assertions
>        was made through an XSLT style sheet, that allowed to  
> generate a
>        static list of test assertions that served as the first basis
>        for the review of the testability of the specification.
>

It is ok, but may be "Widgets Packaging and Configuration" should be  
mentioned in second paragraph:

"In the course of the co-development of the test suite and the Widgets  
Packaging and Configuration specification,..."
or
"In the course of the co-development of the Widgets Packaging and  
Configuration specification and the test suite, ..."

It indicates that this and following sentences in the chapter are  
concrete example: reader's just read about Widgets Packaging and  
Configuration specification three sentences before and he or she don't  
need to recall what group and spec writers worked together (mentioned  
in the introduction).

I believe the style is not become worse in this case because "Widgets  
Packaging and Configuration" is not occurred in chapter 4.

Thanks,
     Dmitri.


>> III. "5. Test assertions and test cases"
>>
>> "To maintain the association between test cases and test  
>> assertions, a
>> simple XML file was set up:
>> <EXAMPLE>"
>>
>> It seems the example should match to marked assertion in "3. Mark-up
>> conventions for test assertions". It simplifies the understanding of
>> the document.
>
> Very good point, indeed; I have re-used the same id.
>
>> VI. "5. Test assertions and test cases"
>>
>> "its content is integrated in the test plan with JavaScript to attach
>> test cases to the previously extracted test assertions;"
>>
>> It may be useful to add link to [WIDGETS-TESTS] one more time here.
>
> Added.
>
>> V. I've found strange symbols in document: "—", ... It may be not a
>> problem in final document, but now it made a little difficulties to
>> read document for me. I've used "download" link from cvs page: http://dev.w3.org/cvsweb/
>> ~checkout~/2008/dev-ind-testing/extracting-test-assertions-pub.html?
>> rev=1.1&content-type=text/html;%20charset=iso-8859-1
>
> Yeah, that’s an artefact of the CVS server, nothing to worry about.
>
> Dom
>
>

Received on Wednesday, 16 December 2009 10:17:26 UTC