New Definitons for Glossary

To all,

In response to Lofton's request to define some new glossary terms, I've 
provided some definitions for these terms.  I couldn't find any formal 
definitions cited elsewhere, but these are how we generally use these terms 
at NIST.  If anyone would like to modify these definitions, please respond 
to the e-mail.  If there are no suggested modifications, Karl, please enter 
these into the glossary.

Generally, test assertion, semantic requirement and test requirement are 
used interchangeably.

Test Assertion
A set of premises that are known to be true by definition in the spec.

Semantic Requirement
Same as test assertion

Test Requirement
Same as test assertion

Test Purpose
An explanation of why the test was written, and must map
directly to one or more test assertions.


Test Case
An individual test that corresponds to a test purpose,
which in turn maps back to the assertion(s), and finally the spec.


Atomic Test:
A test case that tests a single rule from the specification and maps back 
to exactly one assertion. This is in contrast to some test cases that may 
test a combination of rules.


Mark





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Mark Skall
Chief, Software Diagnostics and Conformance Testing Division
Information Technology Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8970
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8970

Voice: 301-975-3262
Fax:   301-590-9174
Email: skall@nist.gov
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