US-RSE Software Testing Talk Series
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The Testing working group is happy to announce a new talk on Software Testing on Wednesday February 18, 1-2 PM EST.
Title: Your Requirements Specification as an Executable Test Suite
Presenter: Brad Richardson
Abstract
Automated testing is a well established best practice in software development, so you are writing test suites for your projects right? But how useful is your test suite after you have finished writing it? Does it help you to pinpoint the source of bugs? Does it help you to make changes to functionality, or get in the way? Would a new developer find it useful for getting their bearings in your project? Can you tell which requirement a given test is meant to verify?
Experience in the nuclear power industry, with its emphasis on quality assurance and high standards for verification, provides motivation to always have satisfactory answers to these questions. This presentation provides guidance for writing a well organized suite of tests that leads to positive answers to the previous questions. The primary lesson is that a test suite organized as an executable verification of the requirements of the project provides long term value in the form of easier on-boarding for new team members and increased developer productivity during maintenance activities. Examples and demonstrations are provided using the Veggies Fortran Unit Testing Framework, which has been designed to aid in writing test suites of the form described above.
Biography
Brad Richardson has a variety of experience and qualifications related to scientific and engineering software development and maintenance. He has been involved in the development and/or maintenance of multiple, highly-complex, safety-related, legacy software packages used in various scientific and engineering fields. Brad has also been involved in the development of multiple newer open-source software packages, making use of modern software development tools and techniques. Brad has taught multiple classes, including on the basics of version control with git, modern Fortran basics, software design patterns in Fortran, and modern software development practices (i.e. unit testing and continuous integration). Brad currently works as a Research Software Engineer in the NASA Flight Sciences Laboratory Computing Center at Johnson Space Center, where he assists systems administrators with automating tasks, as well as scientists and engineers in developing and optimizing their software to run on center clusters.
Registration details
To register follow this link: Testing Talk Series Registration