Re: Thoughs on Theory.pm

[Dave Whipp]

David Storrs wrote:

While I like the idea, I would point out that 1000 tests with  randomly 
generated data are far less useful than 5 tests chosen to  hit boundary 
conditions.

I come from a hardware verification background. The trend in this 
industry is driven from the fact that the computer can generate (and) 
run 1000 random tests more quickly than a human can write 5 directed 
tests. And a quick question: just what are the boundary cases of 
"a+(b+c)==(a+b)+c" for a generic Ring type?

Of course, in the hardware world we give hints (constraints) to the 
generators to bias it towards interesting cases. Plus the tools use 
coverage data to drive the tests towards uncovered code (not entirely 
automatic). Finally, we have tools that can spend 48+ hours analyzing a 
small block (statically) to find really good set of tests.