[Tutor] the art of testing

[Kent Johnson]

On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 3:41 PM, Serdar Tumgoren <zstumgoren at gmail.com> wrote:

> I've started writing some "requirements", and combined with your
> advice, am starting to feel a bit more confident on how to approach
> this project.
>
> Below is an excerpt of my requirements -- basically what I've learned
> from reviewing the raw data using ElementTree at the command line.
>
> Are these the types of "requirements" that are appropriate for the
> problem at hand? Or am I not quite hitting the mark for the data
> validation angle?

I'm not really sure where you are going with this? This looks like a
data specification, but you said the data is poorly specified and not
under your control. So is this a specification of a data validator?

> I figured once I write down these low-level rules about my input, I
> can start coding up the test cases...Is that correct?

Yes...but I'm not really clear what it is you want to test. What does
your code do? What if a Filing does not have a 'Type' attribute?

Kent
>
> << requirements snippet>>
>
> Root node of every XML file is PublicFiling
> Every PublicFiling node must contain at least one Filing node
> Every Filing must contain 'Type' attribute
> Every Filing must contain 'Year' attribute, etc.
> Filing node must be either a Registration or activity Report
> Filing is a Registration when 'Type' attribute equals 'Registration'
> or 'Registration Amendment'
> Registration must not have an 'Amount' attribute
> Registration must not have an 'is_state_or_local_attrib'
>
> << end requirements>>
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