Test suite

In software development, a test suite, less commonly known as a validation suite, is a collection of test cases that are intended to be used to test a software program to show that it has some specified set of behaviours. A test suite often contains detailed instructions or goals for each collection of test cases and information on the system configuration to be used during testing. A group of test cases may also contain prerequisite states or steps, and descriptions of the following tests.

Collections of test cases are sometimes incorrectly termed a test plan, a test script, or even a test scenario.

Types

Occasionally, test suites are used to group similar test cases together. A system might have a smoke test suite that consists only of smoke tests or a test suite for some specific functionality in the system. It may also contain all tests and signify if a test should be used as a smoke test or for some specific functionality.

An executable test suite is a test suite that can be executed by a program. This usually means that a test harness, which is integrated with the suite, exists. The test suite and the test harness together can work on a sufficiently detailed level to correctly communicate with the system under test (SUT).

A test suite for a primality testing subroutine might consist of a list of numbers and their primality (prime or composite), along with a testing subroutine. The testing subroutine would supply each number in the list to the primality tester, and verify that the result of each test is correct.

External links

• The Plum Hall Validation Suite for C/C++ and the C++ Library, a popular executable Test Suite.
• The ACE supertest suite, an industry leading C/C++ compiler test suite.

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See also

• Scenario test
• Software testing
• Test case