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Testing state machines

itemis CREATE, formerly known as YAKINDU Statechart Tools, supports you with testing of statecharts and generated state machines. Learn more about test-driven statechart modelling and how to use SCTUnit to develop your statechart model step by step using a test-driven approach.

In test-driven development, before writing any code the developer creates a unit test that checks the to-be-established implementation for correctness. Only after that, the developer codes the implementation and executes the test. If the test fails, the developer has to fix the implementation – perhaps repeatedly – until the test succeeds.

Tests are not written for the complete software product in advance, but rather on a per-feature basis. That is, the developer writes tests only for the one single feature he is going to implement next. Having successfully finished that implementation, the developer should refactor his code and his tests. The most recent additions might have opened opportunities to restructure one or the other, thus reducing complexity and/or adding readability. Refactoring must never change the semantics of the code. To ensure that, tests come in handy and should be run after each refactoring step.