Command language definition

[Cameron Laird]

In article <mailman.979718299.22940.python-list at python.org>,
Rolf FISCHER  <fischer at intes.de> wrote:
>On Wed, 17 Jan 2001, Andreas Jung wrote:
>> On Wed, Jan 17, 2001 at 07:59:56AM +0100, Rolf Fischer wrote:
>> > Or is there a combination with another tool that you would recommend ?
>> 
>> hm...please be a bit more detailed...
>> 
>> Andreas
>
>Thanks for the reply
>
>if you want to build a grammar, the basic problem is a syntax definition and
>the check of its validity
>i.e
>
>command:=   keyword [parameter = value]
>
>To setup a command with parameters and values requires a syntax analysis.
>My first (and very raw) impression on python was, that the tool has excellent
>capabilites in easy programming, but I didn't see anything the like to check a
>syntax or to define one. This is why I asked for additional tools.
			.
			.
			.
I think you're dealing with very important matters,
but I'm a bit lost.  Is this true:
  You're part of a team that has developed
  a GUIfied application.  You have respon-
  sibility for testing the application.
You're now saying that, if the application had a
command language, that you could exploit that to
automate testing.  Do I have all that right?

If so, my reaction is that, well, yes, that's one
approach.  The impression I get from your descrip-
tion is that "retrofitting" a command language might
be a larger task than you realize.  While I rate my-
self one of the world's most passionate advocates
of testing instrumentation (in software), I'd want
to have a *very* clear idea of what's involved
before I'd recommend dismembering an existing appli-
cation in order to rework it for a new command
language. 

The ideal situation is that testability is designed
into an application from the beginning.  Are you at
a stage in your development process where your team
will afford you that luxury?

The canonical question people ask is for a black-box
GUI tester--something that deals purely with screen
events.  I've dismissed essentially all those for
years as more trouble than they're worth.  I've re-
cently become quite enthusiastic, though, about
Android <URL: http://www.smith-house.org/open.html >.
-- 

Cameron Laird <claird at NeoSoft.com>
Business:  http://www.Phaseit.net
Personal:  http://starbase.neosoft.com/~claird/home.html