5 ms·

when i was doing Palm OS programming back in the stone age, i remember the simulator had a "monkey testing mode", where it would just generate GUI events random

when i was doing Palm OS programming back in the stone age, i remember the simulator had a "monkey testing mode", where it would just generate GUI events randomly. it was actually quite useful for uncovering sporadic crashes. EDIT: ha, i found a reference, they're called Gremlins http://users.jyu.fi/~mweber/teaching/docs/palmos/book/ch10.htm#P370_19896 http://users.jyu.fi/~mweber/teaching/docs/palmos/book/ch10.h...

mayanklahiri 16y ago
I believe it's also called "fuzz testing"
JoelSutherland 16y ago
Calling them Gremlins is actually a reference to the British Royal Air Force in WWII. The airmen would blame 'gremlins' for mechanical issues or even problems during flight. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gremlin#Origins http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gremlin#Origins Famous children's author Roald Dahl popularized them after he left the RAF to become a writer. If you get a chance, read a biography of Roald Dahl. He truely was the most interesting man in the world. (WWII Ace Fighter Pilot, British Secret Agent, invented a brain-heart valve, married an Academy Award winning actress, pioneered a stroke recovery program and sold over 100 million books.)
- itsnotvalid 16y ago
  I remembered reading his books in my younger ages.
pretz 16y ago
That's exactly why this method exists on Android. They have a similar testing tool called Monkey: http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/monkey.html http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/monkey.h...
- Deestan 16y ago
  Doesn't it defeat the testing purpose if you perform a check to take a different code path when the testing tool runs?
  - lallysingh 16y ago
    I'll assume that it's best to put in the check after you've found a bug. Perhaps something that the monkey triggers that isn't very high on your human-customer buglist.
  - ceejayoz 16y ago
    I'd imagine there are occasional uses for it. You could use it to start the app with a particular state you wish to test with Monkey, while leaving it usable for human users.
  - flogic 16y ago
    Maybe. Sometimes no matter how hard you try test and production are significantly different. I wind up in a number of situations where any meaningful testing has to be done in production.
  - johnrob 16y ago
    You might avoid doing certain write-esque operations if you know you are in test mode. For example, you wouldn't want to charge a credit card or update someone's facebook status.
    - Deestan 16y ago
      That makes sense. It didn't occur to me that someone might want to run a monkey test in a live environment, but I guess it is necessary sometimes.
    - praptak 16y ago
      On the downside this might prevent some great dramatic literature from being created.
  - 16y ago

mayanklahiri 16y ago

I believe it's also called "fuzz testing"

JoelSutherland 16y ago

Calling them Gremlins is actually a reference to the British Royal Air Force in WWII. The airmen would blame 'gremlins' for mechanical issues or even problems during flight. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gremlin#Origins http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gremlin#Origins Famous children's author Roald Dahl popularized them after he left the RAF to become a writer. If you get a chance, read a biography of Roald Dahl. He truely was the most interesting man in the world. (WWII Ace Fighter Pilot, British Secret Agent, invented a brain-heart valve, married an Academy Award winning actress, pioneered a stroke recovery program and sold over 100 million books.)

itsnotvalid 16y ago
I remembered reading his books in my younger ages.

pretz 16y ago

That's exactly why this method exists on Android. They have a similar testing tool called Monkey: http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/monkey.html http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/monkey.h...

Deestan 16y ago
Doesn't it defeat the testing purpose if you perform a check to take a different code path when the testing tool runs?
- lallysingh 16y ago
  I'll assume that it's best to put in the check after you've found a bug. Perhaps something that the monkey triggers that isn't very high on your human-customer buglist.
- ceejayoz 16y ago
  I'd imagine there are occasional uses for it. You could use it to start the app with a particular state you wish to test with Monkey, while leaving it usable for human users.
- flogic 16y ago
  Maybe. Sometimes no matter how hard you try test and production are significantly different. I wind up in a number of situations where any meaningful testing has to be done in production.
- johnrob 16y ago
  You might avoid doing certain write-esque operations if you know you are in test mode. For example, you wouldn't want to charge a credit card or update someone's facebook status.
  - Deestan 16y ago
    That makes sense. It didn't occur to me that someone might want to run a monkey test in a live environment, but I guess it is necessary sometimes.
  - praptak 16y ago
    On the downside this might prevent some great dramatic literature from being created.
- 16y ago