Glossary

Test

IEEE/ANSI [1] : (i) An activity in which a system or component is executed under specified conditions, the results are observed or record, and an evaluation is made of some aspect of the system or component. (ii) A set of one or more test cases.

Test Case

A test assertion with a single result that is being verified. This allows designations such as PASS or FAIL to be applied to a single bit of functionality. A single test case may be one of many test cases for testing the complete functionality of a system. IEEE/ANSI: (i)A set of test inputs, execution conditions, and expected results developed for a particular objective. (ii) The smallest entity that is always executed as a unit, from beginning to end.

Test Driver

A program that handles the execution of test programs. It is responsible for starting the test programs, capturing their output, and recording their results. Pan is an example of a test driver.

Test Framework

A mechanism for organizing a group of tests. Frameworks may have complex or very simple API's, drivers and result logging mechanisms. Examples of frameworks are TETware and DejaGnu.

Test Harness

A Test harness is the mechanism that connects a test program to a test framework. It may be a specification of exit codes, or a set of libraries for formatting messages and determining exit codes. In TETware, the tet_result() API is the test harness.

Test Program

A single invokable program. A test program can contain one or more test cases. The test harness's API allows for reporting/analysis of the individual test cases.

Test Suite

A collection of tests programs, assertions, cases grouped together under a framework.

Test Tag

An identifier that corresponds to a command line which runs a test. The tag is a single word that matches a test program with a set of command line arguments.