Test procedures: A new approach to software verification
David J. Panzl · International Conference on Software Engineering · 1976
A test procedure is a formal specification of test cases to be applied to one or more target program modules. Test procedures are executable. A process called the VERIFIER applies a test procedure to its target modules and produces an exception report indicating which test cases, if any, failed.Test procedures facilitate thorough software testing by allowing individual modules or arbitrary groups of modules to be thoroughly tested outside the environment in which they will eventually reside. Test procedures are complete, self-contained, self-validating and execute automatically. Test procedures are a deliverable product of the software development process and are used for both initial checkout and subsequent regression testing of target program modifications.Test procedures are coded in a new language called TPL (Test Procedure Language). The paper analyzes current testing practices, describes the structure and design of test procedures and introduces the Fortran Test Procedure Language.