WWDC and AS (was Re: QuickTime and GarageBand)
WWDC and AS (was Re: QuickTime and GarageBand)
- Subject: WWDC and AS (was Re: QuickTime and GarageBand)
- From: has <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2004 02:32:40 +0100
John C. Welch wrote:
Ooh...the list of WWDC sessions that mention AppleScript:
[...]
Automated Testing Using AppleScript
[...]
This piqued my interest, so I looked up the description for this session:
"Using practical examples, this session will teach you how adding an
AppleScript interface to your application can provide an efficient
and powerful way to create thorough automated testing.[...]"
Uh-oh...
As acting temporary devil's advocate, I gotta say this sounds very
_wrong_. Writing tests against an application's scripting interface
is fine... for testing the scripting interface. But for testing an
application's business layer, aka Model, developers should be writing
their automated tests directly against the Model's own APIs, classes,
procedures, etc. Not several layers away; especially when those extra
layers are closed, immature, and a potential source of bugs
themselves.
To me, it sounds suspiciously like some kind of misguided attempt to
boost AppleScript and/or application scripting support amongst
professional programmers - trying to improve AppleScript's "developer
street cred" by sneaking or shoehorning it into professional software
development processes, regardless of whether or not it's actually an
appropriate use for this technology. (More knowledgeable folk are
welcome to disabuse me of such concerns, of course, if they can.)
has
p.s. There is one area where application scripting could definitely
be put to very good use: performing automated GUI tests via System
Events' GUI scripting commands. Maybe not as glamorous sounding, but
a much more constructive and technically sound use of application
scripting in software development.
--
http://freespace.virgin.net/hamish.sanderson/
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