TTCN

TTCN is a programming language dedicated to testing of communication protocols and web services. A TTCN Test Suite consists of many test cases written in TTCN.Up to version 2 the language is unconventionally written in tables and called "Tree and Tabular Combined Notation". Reading and editing this language requires special TTCN editors. From version 3 on TTCN was renamed to "Testing and Test Control Notation", is closer to current programming languages and can be edited with traditional editors. TTCN-3 is even more flexible than TTCN-2 and can be used besides for protocol testing also for testing traditional software.

All versions need dedicated compilers or interpreters for execution.

TTCN has been widely used by e.g. ETSI, ITU for testing of telecommunication protocols. Conformance test cases of ETSI standards like ISDN, DECT, GSM, EDGE, 3G, DSRC have been written in TTCN. Since a few years it has also been used for testing of other protocol standards e.g. Bluetooth, IP.

Execution of those test cases against products (e.g. phones, mobile phones or network elements) is used to verify that the protocol implementation in those products are meeting the requirements defined by the telecommunication standards.

TTCN is often combined with ASN.1.

Example code

This is an example of the famous Hello World program in TTCN-3. module HelloWorld { control { log("Hello World"); } }

Versions

*TTCN-1: First version of TTCN, not widely used.

*TTCN-2: Second version of TTCN version, minor modification of TTCN-1, today widely used.

*TTCN-3: Third and current version of TTCN.

Background info

While conformance testing mean test execution against a well defined test case e.g. written in TTCN, plug-tests (often also called interoperability testing) are test cases executed against other products of opposite role of the tested product (e.g. Mail-Client against Mail-server, phone against network, Bluetooth headset against Bluetooth phone). Plug-tests are e.g. often executed at so called unplug-fests.

Internet standards such as IETF use today mainly so called plug-tests for test execution.

Conformance-tests and plug-tests complement each other. If well done, interoperability errors found with plug-tests should lead to definition of new conformance test cases that cover the failure situation.

External links

* [http://etsi.org/ptcc ETSI PTCC]
* [http://itu.int/ITU-T/studygroups/com07/ttcn.html ITU TTCN Studygroup]
* [http://www.ttcn-3.org ETSI TTCN-3 web site]
* [http://www.ttcn-3.org/CommercialTools.htm List of TTCN-3 tools]
* [http://wiki.openttcn.com/media/index.php/OpenTTCN/Language_reference TTCN-3 language reference]
* [http://wiki.openttcn.com/media/index.php/OpenTTCN/Knowledge_base/IDL_to_TTCN-3_mapping_explained IDL to TTCN-3 mapping]
* [http://wiki.openttcn.com/media/index.php/OpenTTCN/Developer_corner/Creating_adapter_with_C_SDK TTCN-3 adapter programming tutorial]