UNIT TESTING FROM A SCHEME INTERPRETER.

This facility makes it easy to do Scheme Unit testing from a Scheme
command interpreter (an *inferior-lisp* buffer) in Emacs with PLT
(MzScheme). The facility keeps track of your testsuites, and it helps
you to maintain your testsuites.

The facility interfaces to an existing Scheme Unit Testing framework:
the Schematics Schemeunit software.  In order to use the facility you
should therefore first install the Schematics Schemeunit testing
software, which only works with PLT Scheme. You can get it from

   http://schematics.sourceforge.net/schemeunit.html

The main idea behind this facility is that you connect yourself to one
of your testsuites. This can be done from the Emacs "Unit Testing"
menu via the menu entry "Connect to testsuite...". You can also
initiate a new testsuite by the menu entry "Make new testsuite". You
will be prompted for a directory and a name of the testsuite.

You can work in the usual way in the Scheme interpreter
buffer. Whenever you wish to register the last expression and its
value as test case you apply one of the menu entries "Add a
testcase". You also just type M-x ok, or use the keyboard shortcut C-t
C-t for the most typical of these. In this way, you can quickly and
easily accumulate a number of testcases while you experiment with and
try out newly developed Scheme functions. By this approach, you can
with very little extra effort preserve all your testing work. The menu
command "Run current test suite" turn the testsuite into SchemeUnit
testfile, and executes it for you.

A testsuite is organized in a test directory that - most important -
contains the testsuite (a set of testcases) in a particular list
format.  The test directory also contains a setup and teardown file
(both Scheme files).  The setup file is loaded when you connect
yourself to the testsuite. The teardown file is loaded when all the
testcases in the testsuite are executed.

Given a testsuite, it is possible to derive a Schematic SchemeUnit
testsuite, and execute it. The Schemeunit test apparatus also executes
the setup and tear down files. Execution of the current testsuite is
done by the menu entry "Run current testsuite". You can also run all
registered testsuites by "Run all testsuites".  The test directory
contains the automatically generated SchemeUnit test file, which can
be accessed by the Emacs command "Open current SchemeUnit testsuite".

The "Unit Testing" menu also makes it easy to open the testsuite as
such, and to open the setup and tear down Scheme files.

The bookkeeping of testsuites offered by this facility can be affected
by the registering and deregistering commands. It is also possible,
via the command "Find and register testsuites..." to search
(recursively) for all testsuites in a given directory. The use of this
command is very convenient if you obtain directories from other
sources.

The facilities described above are integreated with LAML SchemeDoc.
LAML SchemeDoc can apply selected testcases from a testsuite as
examples, and present these together with other Schemedoc
information. Only testcases marked as (use-as-example ...)  give rise
to examples.

As part of the Interactive Scheme Unit testing framework, we have
extended the command interpreter in Emacs with an infinite history
facility. Each line of text you enter into the command interpreter is
saved on a file for future convenience. Thus, if you experiment a lot
today, you can easily tomorrow turn some of these efforts into
systematic tests, because all your interactions are preserved.  You
can access the extended command history file with "Open comint
history" from the menu. Feel free to prune this file, if you wish.

There is a separate help text about individual test cases. Please
consult the "Unit Testing" menu of your command interpreter (comint).

I have written a paper about the Interactive Scheme Unit testing facility.
See

  ... 

Feedback or comments to this facility should be sent to normark@cs.aau.dk.