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The Pascal Validation Suite

Prospero Software have a long association with Pascal validation, and have been retained by BSI to undertake the maintenance, support and distribution of the Pascal Validation Suite (PVS). The following is a general description of the suite itself and the various associated items which are included.

General Description

The Pascal Validation Suite (PVS) provides implementors and users with a means of assessing in detail the performance of an implementation in relation to the definition of the language in the relevant International Standard, ISO 7185:1990. The current version of the PVS is 5.7, which consists of tests in the following categories:

As can be seen from the table, the PVS is made up of various CLASSES of test, the most important being Conformance and Deviance, which between them make up approximately two thirds of the Suite. Conformance tests are designed to ensure that a processor supports all the required features of the Standard. (The term "processor" describes a Pascal implementation together with the environment in which it runs, typically an operating system.) Deviance tests are designed to ensure that a processor rejects incorrect constructs, to give a high level of assurance that a program accepted by that processor will be accepted by other conforming processors. The other classes check the extent to which a processor detects execution errors and other aspects of its functionality.

Version 5.7 of the PVS comprises well over 22,000 lines of test code; also provided is a complete validator's toolkit (Pascal programs and data files to analyse the test results), a Pascal checksum program (to check the integrity of the suite) and an assumptions program (to check the validity of test suite assumptions with the implementation under test). The documentation includes a detailed description of PVS design, the criteria for validation suite classes, and directions for using the programs in the toolkit.

Besides the Validation Suite proper, the issue includes a selection of programs produced by the Pascal Program Generator, which exercise various aspects of an implementation without being related to specific points in the Standard, and some 135 tests of features of Extended Pascal. The latter form the starting point for an Extended Pascal Validation Suite.

All new PVS recipients are registered on a renewal service, and details of re-releases of the PVS, bug notices, etc., are sent automatically. Examples of PVS source code are available for inspection on request.

For further information, contact:

Prospero Development Software Ltd

London SW15 6EP
England

(
Email Prospero@ProsperoSoftware.com

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