# Copyright (C) 2001-2007, The Perl Foundation.
# $Id: /mirror/trunk/docs/tests.pod 34761 2009-01-01T02:15:46.952534Z infinoid  $

=head1 NAME

docs/tests.pod - Testing Parrot

=head1 A basic guide to writing and running tests for Parrot

This is quick and dirty pointer to how the Parrot test suite is executed and
to how new tests for Parrot should be written.
The testing system is liable to change in the future, but tests written
following the guidelines below should be easy to port into a new test suite.

=head1 How to test parrot

The easy way to test parrot is running C<make test>. If you have
updated your code recently and tests began failing, go for a C<make
realclean> and recompile parrot before complaining.

If your architecture supports JIT, you can test parrot JIT engine using C<make
testj>. It works just like C<make test>, but uses the JIT engine when possible.

C<make languages-test> runs the test suite for most language implementations
in the languages directory.

=head2 Submitting smolder test results

Parrot has a status page with smoke test results at
L<http://smolder.plusthree.com/app/public_projects/details/8>.

You can supply new tests results by just running C<make smoke>. 
It will run the same tests as C<make test> would, but will upload
the test results to the website.

=head1 Location of the test files

The parrot test files, the F<*.t> files, can be found in the F<t> directory.
A quick overview over the subdirs in F<t> can be found in F<t/README>. 

The language implementations usually have their test files in F<languages/*/t>.

New tests should be added to an existing F<*.t> file.
If a previously untested feature is tested,
it might also make sense to create a new F<*.t> file.

=head1 How to write a test

Test scripts must emit text that conforms to the C<Test Anything Protocol>.
Test scripts are currently usually written in Perl 5 or PIR.
The Perl 5 module C<Parrot::Test>
and the PIR module C<Test;More> help with writing tests.

The testing framework needs to know how many tests it should expect.  So the
number of planned tests needs to be incremented when adding a new test. This
is done near the top of a test file, in a line that looks like:

  use Parrot::Test tests => 8;

for Perl 5 based test scripts.

=head2 Testing Parrot Assembler

PASM tests are mostly used for testing ops.  Appropriate test files for basic
ops are F<t/op/*.t>.  Perl Magic Cookies are tested in F<t/pmc/*.t>.  Add the
new test like this:

    pasm_output_is(<<'CODE', <<'OUTPUT', "name for test");
        *** a big chunk of assembler, eg:
        print   1
        print   "\n" # you can even comment it if it's obscure
        end          # don't forget this...!
    CODE
    *** what you expect the output of the chunk to be, eg.
    1
    OUTPUT

=head2 Testing Parrot Intermediate Representation

Writing tests in B<PIR> is more convenient. This is done with
C<pir_output_is> and friends.

    pir_output_is(<<'CODE',<<'OUT','nothing useful');
        .include 'library/config.pir'

        .sub main :main
            print "hi\n"
        .end
    CODE
    hi
    OUT

=head2 Testing C source

C source tests are usually located in F<t/src/*.t>.  A simple test looks like:

    c_output_is(<<'CODE', <<'OUTPUT', "name for test");
    #include <stdio.h>
    #include "parrot/parrot.h"
    #include "parrot/embed.h"

    static opcode_t *the_test(Parrot_Interp, opcode_t *, opcode_t *);

    int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
        Parrot_Interp interp;
        interpreter = Parrot_new(NULL);

        if (!interpreter)
            return 1;

        Parrot_run_native(interp, the_test);
        printf("done\n");
    fflush(stdout);
        return 0;
    }

    static opcode_t*
    the_test(PARROT_INTERP,
        opcode_t *cur_op, opcode_t *start)
    {
        /* Your test goes here. */

        return NULL;  /* always return NULL */
    }
    CODE
    # Anything that might be output prior to "done".
    done
    OUTPUT

Note that it's always a good idea to output "done" to confirm that the compiled
code executed completely. When mixing C<printf> and C<Parrot_io_printf> always append
a C<fflush(stdout);> after the former.

=head2 Testing Perl5 components

At the present time most, if not all, of the programs used to configure, build
and install Parrot are written in Perl 5.  These programs take the form of
program files (F<*.pl>) and Perl modules (F<*.pm>) holding subroutines and
other variables imported into the program files.  Examples of such
program files can be found under F<tools/>; examples of such Perl modules
can be found under F<lib/Parrot/>.

All of these Perl 5 components ought to be tested.  Fortunately, over the last
decade, under the leadership of Michael Schwern, chromatic, Andy Lester and
many others, the Perl 5 community has developed a rigorous approach to testing
in which:

=over 4

=item a

Subroutines found in F<*.pl> files are extracted and placed in F<*.pm>
modules.

=item b

Those subroutines are then imported back into the program file.

=item c

Those subroutines are also imported into test files (F<*.t>) where are tests
are run by Test::Builder-based modules such as Test::Simple and Test::More.

=item d

Those test files are run by Test::Harness-based functionality such as
ExtUtils::MakeMaker's F<make test>, Module::Build's F<build test>, or
Test::Harness's F<prove>.

=item e

The extent to which the test files exercise all statements in the Perl modules
being tested is measured in coverage analysis using CPAN module Devel::Cover.

=item f

The underlying code is refactored and improved on the basis of the results of
tests and coverage analysis.

=back

Tests reflecting this approach can be found in F<t/configure/>,
F<t/postconfigure/>, F<t/tools/>, and so on.

It is our objective to test all Perl 5 components of the Parrot distribution
using the methodology above.

=head3 Build Tools Tests

The files in F<t/postconfigure> are tests for build system. The build tools
tests are intended to be run after someone has made changes in modules such as
F<lib/Parrot/Pmc2cUtils/>, F<Ops2cUtils/> and F<Ops2pmutils/>.  They're set up
to be run after F<Configure.pl> has completed but before make has been invoked.
(In fact, they will generate errors if make has completed.)  You can run them
with any of the following:
 
     perl Configure.pl --test
     perl Configure.pl --test=build
     make buildtools_tests  (following Configure.pl)

=head2 Testing language implementations

Language implementations are usually tested with 
C<language_output_is> and friends.

=head1 Ideal tests:

=over 4

=item *

Probe the boundaries (including edge cases, errors thrown etc.) of whatever
code they're testing.  These should include potentially out of band input
unless we decide that compilers should check for this themselves.

=item *

Are small and self contained, so that if the tested feature breaks we can
identify where and why quickly.

=item *

Are valid. Essentially, they should conform to the additional documentation
that accompanies the feature (if any). [If there isn't any documentation, then
feel free to add some and/or complain to the mailing list].

=item *

Are a chunk of assembler and a chunk of expected output.

=back

=head1 TODO tests

In test driven development, tests are implemented first.  So the tests are
initially expected to fail.  This can be expressed by marking the tests as
TODO. See L<Test::More> on how to do that.

=head1 SKIP tests

TODO test actually executed, so that unexpected success can be detected.
In the case of missing requirements and in the case of serious breakdowns
the execution of tests can be skipped.
See L<Test::More> on how to do that.

=head1 SEE ALSO

L<http://qa.perl.org/>
L<http://testanything.org/>
L<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_Anything_Protocol>
F<t/TESTS.STATUS.pod>
F<t/README>

=cut
