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author | Daniel Silverstone <dsilvers@digital-scurf.org> | 2020-02-18 20:24:46 +0000 |
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committer | Daniel Silverstone <dsilvers@digital-scurf.org> | 2020-02-18 20:24:54 +0000 |
commit | c75d3632988e67197f1804d0a9c3c39fd4258e56 (patch) | |
tree | c4c74a8a6acf0530edb7c46239c2c98bfa8e0c1a | |
parent | 5a61da785a635413e55c3f63d3d7b12e3a54d817 (diff) | |
download | blog-c75d3632988e67197f1804d0a9c3c39fd4258e56.tar.bz2 |
Subplot blog
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@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@ /* ikiwiki local style sheet */ +/* Stolen from Lars */ + +.floatTR { + float: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; +} + /* Add local styling here, instead of modifying style.css. */ th.month-calendar-head { text-align: center; } diff --git a/posts/subplot_volunteers_acceptance_testing_tool.mdwn b/posts/subplot_volunteers_acceptance_testing_tool.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a744c7c --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/subplot_volunteers_acceptance_testing_tool.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,96 @@ +[[!meta title="Subplot volunteers? (Acceptance testing tool)"]] +[[!meta date="2020-02-18 20:30:00 UTC"]] +[[!meta author="Daniel Silverstone"]] + +[subplot]: https://subplot.liw.fi/ +[yarn]: https://liw.fi/cmdtest/ +[gitlab.com]: https://gitlab.com/larswirzenius/subplot +[lars wirzenius]: https://liw.fi/ +[daniel silverstone]: https://blog.digital-scurf.org/ + +[[!img kitten.jpg class=floatTR]] + +**Note:** This is a repost from [Lars' blog](https://blog.liw.fi/posts/2020/02/15/subplot_volunteers_acceptance_testing_tool/) +made to widen the reach and hopefully find the right interested parties. + +--- + +Would you be willing to try Subplot for acceptance testing for one of +your real projects, and give us feedback? We're looking for two +volunteers. + +> _given_ a project +> _when_ it uses Subplot +> _then_ it is successful + +[Subplot][] is a tool for capturing and automatically verifying the +acceptance criteria for a software project or a system, in a way +that's understood by all stakeholders. + +In a software project there are always more than one stakeholder. Even +in a project one writes for oneself, there are two stakeholders: +oneself, and that malicious cretin oneself-in-the-future. More +importantly, though, there are typically stakeholders such as end +users, sysadmins, clients, software architects, developers, and +testers. They all need to understand what the software should do, and +when it's in an acceptable state to be put into use: in other words, +what the acceptance criteria are. + +Crucially, all stakeholders should understand the acceptance criteria +the same way, and also how to verify they are met. In an ideal +situation, all verification is automated, and happens very frequently. + +There are various tools for this, from generic documentation tooling +(word processors, text editors, markup languages, etc) to test +automation (Cucumber, Selenium, etc). On the one hand, documenting +acceptance criteria in a way that all stakeholders understand is +crucial: otherwise the end users are at risk of getting something +that's not useful to help them, and the project is a waste of +everyone's time and money. On the other hand, automating the +verification of how acceptance criteria is met is also crucial: +otherwise it's done manually, which is slow, costly, and error prone, +which increases the risk of project failure. + +Subplot aims to solve this by an approach that combines documentation +tooling with automated verification. + +- The stakeholders in a project jointly produce a document that + captures all relevant acceptance criteria and also describes how + they can be verified automatically, using scenarios. The document is + written using Markdown. + +- The developer stakeholders produce code to implement the steps in + the scenarios. The Subplot approach allows the step implementations + to be done in a highly cohesive, de-coupled manner, making such code + usually be quite simple. (Test code should be your best code.) + +- Subplot's "docgen" program produces a typeset version as PDF or + HTML. This is meant to be easily comprehensible by all stakeholders. + +- Subplot's "codegen" program produces a test program in the language + used by the developer stakeholders. This test program can be run to + verify that acceptance criteria are met. + +Subplot started in in late 2018, and was initially called Fable. It is +based on the [yarn][] tool for the same purpose, from 2013. Yarn has +been in active use all its life, if not popular outside a small +circle. Subplot improves on yarn by improving document generation, +markup, and decoupling of concerns. Subplot is not compatible with +yarn. + +Subplot is developed by [Lars Wirzenius][] and [Daniel Silverstone][] +as a hobby project. It is free software, implemented in Rust, +developed on Debian, and uses Pandoc and LaTeX for typesetting. The +code is hosted on [gitlab.com][]. Subplot verifies its own acceptance +criteria. It is alpha level software. + +We're looking for one or two volunteers to try Subplot on real +projects of their own, and give us feedback. We want to make Subplot +good for its purpose, also for people other than us. If you'd be +willing to give it a try, start with the [Subplot][] website, then +tell us you're using Subplot. We're happy to respond to questions from +the first two volunteers, and from others, time permitting. (The +reality of life and time constraints is that we can't commit to +supporting more people at this time.) + +We'd love your feedback, whether you use Subplot or not. diff --git a/posts/subplot_volunteers_acceptance_testing_tool/kitten.jpg b/posts/subplot_volunteers_acceptance_testing_tool/kitten.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..837a8cd --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/subplot_volunteers_acceptance_testing_tool/kitten.jpg |