[PD-dev] signal object test template for automated unit testing

[Hans-Christoph Steiner]

Its looking really good, hope the bug doesn't drive you nuts.  The  
only thing I object to is the -utest.pd name.  Perhaps I have a really  
bad memory, but I never remember what stuff like that means.  That why  
I am a big fan of using full words.  Typing really doesn't take very  
long, but if you can't remember what particular abbreviation to use,  
it can be maddening.  How about -unittest.pd?

.hc

On Oct 26, 2011, at 1:29 PM, katja wrote:

> Hello,
>
> Here is a .zip with an improved method for unit-testing of signal
> objects. Instead of a template, there is now an abstraction
> 'unit-test-frame~.pd' handling the tests. The input of that
> abstraction consists of:
>
> - name of the reference file (32 bit float .wav file, like Roman  
> suggested)
> - signal (or system) under test
> - optional delay between test-trigger and test-snapshot (for filters  
> etc.)
>
> The reference file can simply be created from within the unit test
> patch (running in a 'good' Pd), and must be kept with the test and the
> abstraction in a directory. The abstraction compares signal under test
> with reference, computes standard deviation, and sends a tagged result
> to Pd window and stdout:
>
> STDDEV-ZERO 0 reference: <reference> (when stddev = 0)
> STDDEV-SMALL <stddev> reference: <reference> (when 0 < stddev < 1e+05)
> STDDEV-LARGE <stddev> reference: <reference> (when stddev >= 1e+05)
>
> The tags facilitate grepping different categories of 'errors' from a
> test log. Note that a small stddev may sometimes indicate improved
> accuracy in an object! Like when Pd-double is tested against current
> Pd.
>
> By the way I did not find a way to set samplerate for a test. I
> definitely do not want the test patch to mess up other audio settings,
> like number of channels. Therefore an audio-dialog message to pd is
> not an option. However there's an inlet reserved on
> unit-test-frame~.pd for possible future solution of this issue. From a
> remark by Roman Haefeli in another thread,
> http://lists.puredata.info/pipermail/pd-dev/2011-10/017694.html, I
> learnt that -noaudio may be a useful option for automated signal
> object testing.
>
>
> Please report if you have comments on the proposed test stuff. I
> should mention a hidden agenda behind the efforts: the intention is to
> produce dozends or even hundreds of unit-tests in short time, and use
> these for testing Pd-double. Then we could finally make some
> systematic progress in that field. Apart from that, the tests could be
> useful for rewrites/refactorings in general, and for tracking down
> optimizer-troubles.
>
> Katja
>
>
>
>
> .
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