Python as a Testing Language - TTCN-3 Comparison

[Kay Schluehr]

Bernard Stepien wrote:

> 1.       TTCN-3 is an international standard that comes among other
> things with very precise semantics, thus everyone in the world using it
> will talk exactly the same language. This also reduces considerably the
> amount of documentation you need for the next of kin after the developer
> that has developed a test suites or tool moves on.

That's what industry standards are for. If you choose Python you want
to get work done fast and in a somewhat playful way and that's *not*
the goal of development departments of big corps. Departments want to
receive money for maintaining projects ad infinitum. Providing tools
that make one-third of the staff obsolete might be welcomed by higher
management and controllers but definitely not by lower management and
engineers i.e. by your boss and your coworkers.

Development process and tool standards like TTCN-3 are sent from
heaven for department leaders because they can pretend to manage test
development like a factory with replaceable test workers. This indeed
increases efficiency on average, lowers dependencies on creativity of
individual coders and makes their job a bit safer. I've actually
nothing to criticize about them because their behavior is entirely
rational and if I was in their position I'd fill the role with a bit
of cynicism and responsibility for the working class who want to have
a well paid job no matter what they do.

Python is almost always never a good choice because for this because
it is too easy for a coder to gain power over his own work [1]. Known
exceptions: Python is good for small companies who can be aggressive
and have not much to lose but also for small development departments
in big corps with not much workforce. If there is pressure for
innovation Python is o.k. as well. But then no one gives a shit on
TTCN-3 and could care less about being compliant with it.

Python has something in common with TTCN-3 according to your
description: it is a language every programmer can learn and
understand within a short period of time. But unlike TTCN-3 it is even
useful.

[1] Since we talk about testing in the Telco industry. I've done this
a lot in the past and have written test frameworks in Python myself.
They are very specific but there is one thing I'd like to advertise,
namely the use of the right fundamental data structure for
representing, parsing, and altering binary data for the tester:

http://www.fiber-space.de/EasyExtend/doc/p4d/bytelets.html

Here is some more context:

http://pypi.python.org/pypi/P4D