[Pl-seminar] Seminar: Harrison Goldstein on Property-Based Testing for the People

[Cameron Moy]

Where: WVH 366
When: Tuesday, July 16 (12:30-1:30)
Speaker: Harrison Goldstein, University of Pennsylvania
Title: Property-Based Testing for the People
Abstract:
Property-based testing (PBT) is a testing methodology that allows users to
write executable specifications of programs and test those specifications
with automatically generated program inputs. PBT is well-documented as a
power-tool for bug-finding, with success stories at companies like DropBox,
Volvo, and Amazon, but it still has significant room to grow. My
dissertation work combines techniques from programming languages,
human-computer interaction, and software engineering to better understand
the needs of real PBT users and increase the reach of this powerful testing
tool.

In the first part of this talk, I'll motivate some core PBT challenges by
discussing an interview study exploring the realities of PBT's use in
practice. Then I'll describe work addressing two key challenges that we
identified. The first challenge is effective random data generation; I'll
describe work on "free" and "reflective" generators that give users better
algorithms for generating random data. And the second challenge is testing
evaluation; I'll present Tyche, a user interface for visualizing and
understanding testing impact. I'll wrap up with a brief look into ongoing
work in this space, painting a picture of a future where PBT is a usable
and effective tool in every programmer's toolbox.
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