[PD-dev] Unit tests

[Marvin Humphrey]

On Wed, Sep 28, 2011 at 11:08:49PM -0400, Chris McCormick wrote:
> Good point. I am now sending Marvin a copy of the WebPd unit test patches
> licensed under BSD-3.

Cool!

I'm excited to look through these materials.  I'm a Pd noob with a lot to
learn and tests can serve as very enlightening documentation!  :)

Sooner or later, I'll likely contribute unit tests, and I'm confident in my
general testing expertise.  I'm pleased to have started this thread... Still,
it seems to me like the introduction of a testing framework ought to move
ahead on its own, since there are already candidate frameworks available.

There are several long-time Pd community members who believe that the core
would benefit from the addition of unit tests.  I'd like to add my voice to
their chorus.  

I would also like to opine that the addition of a unit testing framework seems
like it would be a conservative, non-disruptive change.  A public API for the
the testing framework need not be exposed -- not right away, and theoretically
never.  Existing core code should require few if any changes to accommodate a
test harness.  Naturally, though, we would want the framework we use to be the
best it can be.

What opinions are out there with regards to the two existing candidate
frameworks?  What do they have in common?  How do they contrast?  Do they
suggest improvements for each other?

Marvin Humphrey