Terminology used in the µTest++ Testing Framework

ISTQB Glossary

The International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) provides the following definitions relevant to testing frameworks, with their implementation in µTest++:

• test condition: a testable aspect of a component or system identified as a basis for testing (in µTest++ this corresponds to a check, made with the t.expect() or t.require() member functions):
  • an expectation is a check made with expect(); a failure is reported and counted, and the test case continues;
  • a requirement is a check made with require(); a failure is reported and counted, and the rest of the test case is skipped;
• test case: a set of preconditions, inputs, actions (where applicable), expected results, and postconditions, developed based on test conditions (in µTest++ this corresponds to instances of the test_case class, created by calls to the test() member function of a suite or of another test case, in which case it is nested; its body runs immediately);
• test suite: a collection of test scripts or test procedures to be executed within a specific test run (in µTest++ this corresponds to instances of the suite class, which are run by the runner, sorted by name):
  • the top suite is the optional suite whose test cases are written directly in main(), added with add_top_suite(); it is always the first suite in the report;
  • a suite added to the runner with add_suite();
  • a static suite is a suite defined as a static_suite object, usually in its own source file, which registers itself with a runner when it is constructed, before main() is called.

For additional details, refer to the ISTQB Glossary.

Other µTest++ terms

• runner: the object (mt::runner) that drives a test session: it is initialised with the options, holds the suites, runs them with run_suites(), reports the results through the selected reporter, and returns the result as the exit code;
• comparator: a function such as eq(), lt(), or approx() that compares its operands and records them, so that a failed check reports their values;
• reporter: the component that formats the results; the TAP reporter is the default, and the human-readable reporter is selected with --reporter=human.

Protocols and tools

• TAP (Test Anything Protocol): a simple text-based protocol between test programs and the tools that collect their results; µTest++ writes TAP version 14 by default;
• node-tap: the JavaScript testing framework that inspired the model of µTest++, and whose TAP parser is used to validate its output;
• xpm: the xPack Project Manager, a command line tool that installs source and binary packages into a project, in the xpacks folder;
• xpm package (xPack): a package that uses the npm package format, with additional metadata for C/C++ projects, installed with xpm; µTest++ is distributed as an xpm package.