Monday, February 25, 2008

Introduction to TTCN-3



This one is from Arvind's blog:


TTCN-3 core language is nothing more than simple text with well-defined syntax and semantics. The syntax is defined using Backus-Naur Form. What this means is that any text editor can be used to write TTCN-3 test cases. Such test cases are quite different in dynamic behaviour from C or Pascal. Still, it is quite easy for programmers well-versed with procedural languages to get used to TTCN-3 easily. There are many similarities - keywords, data types, variables, control statements, functions, operators, operator precedence, just to name a few.


The language is structured in a way that allows high level of flexibility. Test system definition is modular. In fact, an important unit of a test suite is a module which would contain one or more test cases or the control part of a test suite. Concurrency of operation is possible because components can execute in parallel. Of course, execution is serialized at the level of hardware unless the multi-processors are involved. Parameterization is possible just as it was possible in TTCN-2. Concepts of PICS and PIXIT still apply because they are fundamental to any conformance testing.

More Information is available at:

Finally, you may be wondering why I am discussing TTCN-3 on this blog. This is because those of us who work in testing side will know very well that most of the test scripts are written in TTCN. At present TTCN-2 is used and there is only one big player for that which is Telelogic. This is because they have some patents which restricts competetion. To bypass this, ETSI pioneered TTCN-3 which is open source and anybody can create a compiler for TTCN-3.

As a result, TTCN-3 is being widely adopted for testing now. Its already being used for WiMAX, IMS and SIP testing. In future it would be used for LTE as well.

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