The History and Future of TTCN-3 User Conference

The History and Future of TTCN-3 User Conference Stockholm 2007 Anthony Wiles Director ETSI Centre for Testing and Interoperability T 3 UC 2007 TTCN-3 User Conference 2007

World Class Standards ETSI Centre for Testing and Interoperability q Development of test specifications (ATS) for a wide range of ETSI technologies q Organisation of interoperability events – Plugtests. TM q Contribute to the development of TTCN-3 and other techniques and methodologies TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 2

World Class Standards What Goes Round Comes Round 1984 2007 TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 3

World Class Standards "History is merely a list of surprises. It can only prepare us to be surprised yet again" -- Kurt Vonnegut q History is about Dates, Places and People q Standards are about people, as much as they are about technology q So here is a short story of a few dates, a few places, some artefacts, plenty of people q … and some Ducks TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 4

World Class Standards It all began at a time when … q Apple was a Beatles label, not a computer company q Mobile phones were the size of mobile homes q Pods were things with seeds in them, not music players q Bluetooth was still only a Scandinavian king q 1984 was a good book, not a tacky reality TV show q And OSI was the future of networking, not this thing called TCP/IP TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 5

World Class Standards What has Survived? q Well, among other things … q The OSI reference model q ASN. 1 q ISO 9646 Methodology and Framework for Conformance Testing Ø Dr. Dave Rayner (Rapporteur for ISO 9646) Ø Seven part standard Ø Much of the concepts, process and terminology is still used • • IUT PICS Test Purposes Etc. Ø And especially part 3: TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 6

World Class Standards The Beginning q Idea first raised in Manchester early 1984 q Firm proposal for some form of standardised test notation decided in Florida, November 1984, as a section in the main document q Mature draft in 1985, our work was nearly done …. TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 7

World Class Standards TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 8

World Class Standards Trees and Tables q Tree notation (i. e. , alternatives) Ø Process algebra: LOTUS q Tabular format Ø Teletext q Typical standards compromise! Ø Tree and Tabular Combine Notation q BNF invented as a transfer syntax Ø No XML at that time! q The TTCN BNF was invented and developed, here in Kista, at the Institute of Computer Science (SICS) Ø C. a. 1985 q ITEX prototype developed here in Kista Ø Later taken over by Telesoft (now Telelogic) in Uppsala TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 9

World Class Standards We didn’t have Versions, we had Places q q And so time and meetings went by More beer More late nights More places Ø Ø Ø : Vancouver version Tokyo version Sydney (far too much beer, there!) version : ØStockholm version, and TTCN was under pressure … TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 10

World Class Standards TTCN-1 or The Sitting Duck TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 11

World Class Standards Welcome to Hell q Heidelberg version, 1990 q Spent most of the time trying to get the ASN. 1 connection right q And the standard just got bigger and … TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 12

World Class Standards TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 13

World Class Standards Publish and be Damned! q TTCN-1 was published in 1992 as an ISO standard an ITU-T recommendation (X. 292) Ø Os Monkewich took over as ISO Editor for part 3 q The all important tools started to arrive q Adopted by GSM q Difficulties with new tools and methodology, q But it did drive the development and uptake of TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 14

World Class Standards TTCN q TTCN had OSI concepts hardwired into it Ø Strict layered approach Ø Abstract Service Primitives (ASPs) Ø Protocol Data Units (PDUs) q Designed specifically for Conformance Testing Ø Syntax ‘forced’ ISO 9646 methodology q Limitations Ø No parallelism Ø Poor interface with ASN. 1 q Strengths Ø Ø PCO concept Did abstract from real test system Very sound software engineering approach – successive abstraction Test purposes – TTCN code (ATS) – Executable code (ETS) TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 15

World Class Standards Benefits of TTCN q Specifically designed for testing q Concentrates on the test not the test system q Commonly understood syntax and operational semantics q Constantly maintained and developed q Off-the-shelf tools and TTCN-based test systems are readily available q Single language for many (all? ) testing activities Ø Education and training costs can be rationalized Ø Maintenance of test suites (and products) is easier q Allows the application of a common methodology and style, both on a corporate level and within standardization TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 16

World Class Standards TTCN-2 q TTCN-2 came a year or so later q Basically added parallelism q Improved operational semantics q And the tools got better q Complete take-up by ISDN, GSM, DECT, INAP and other telecoms technologies TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 17

World Class Standards Formal Testing was IN! q Spec – implementation – conformance testing – certification q CTS – Conformance Testing Services Ø By third parties Ø EC driven Ø Failure, that unfairly impacted on TTCN q But the basic concepts were good TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 18

World Class Standards From ISO to ETSI q By 1995 standardised testing expertise, and especially TTCN had migrated to the South of France, to ETSI q All development in ISO had ceased – taken up by TC MTC (Methods for Testing and Certification) Ø Current chair: Prof. Dieter Hogrefe q TTCN-2 and even developed further Ø Famous TTCN-2++ (1997) Ø Had nothing to do with OO Ø Just TTCN-2 with a bit more TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 19

World Class Standards But the Times Were a’Changing … q One ‘side’ Ø ‘Internet’ approach Ø No formal testing, ad-hoc interop considered adequate, no conformance, no certification q Other ‘side’ Ø Ø Ø Mobile communications Complex radio technologies Convergence New technologies New application areas (outside telecom/datacom) Demanding rigorous testing q TTCN-2 adequate for the task but limited in its use and application Ø No appeal to a new generation of programmers TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 20

World Class Standards Time to Put TTCN-2 to Bed? TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 21

World Class Standards Well, probably not q Still a significant legacy in TTCN-2 q Large users such as GSM/3 GPP reluctant to change q But none-the-less, it was understood that there was a large ‘untapped’ market of users out there. q So TC MTS opened a Work Item for the next version of TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 22

World Class Standards TTCN-3: 1998 – 2001 and Counting I’m the cool one! TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 23

World Class Standards TTCN-3 q Why 3? Ø Ø Well -3 comes after -2 STF 133 Original team comprised 3 members (Jens, Colin, Anthony) Firm commitment to complete the task in 3 years q So why not? q After one of the most prolific debates ever, the name was decided as Testing and Test Control Notation q And the logo was born TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 24

World Class Standards Some Logos That Hit the Bin TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 25

World Class Standards This One made it! TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 26

World Class Standards TTCN-3 – Best of TTCN-2 and More q Syntax like a ‘proper’ programming language q Dynamic concurrent testing configurations q Various communication mechanisms (synch and asynch) q Different presentation formats q Data and signature templates with powerful matching mechanisms (including regular expressions) q Simpler specification of encoding information q User-defined attributes q Control of Test Case execution and selection mechanisms q Control of complex test configurations q Fully harmonized with ASN. 1 (XML, IDL, C are coming) TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 27

World Class Standards The Rest is (modern) History … q TTCN-3 STF very soon grew to include Ø Ina, Gyorgy, Andreas, … q Dedicated maintenance task Ø Now at version 3. 2. 1 q 1 st TTCN-3 User Conference q Translated to Chinese q Start-up companies, many more tool vendors etc. q Growing community Ø Different synergy than there was with TTCN-1 TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 28

World Class Standards And What of TTCN-4? TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 29

World Class Standards TTCN-3 is a Brand q Major updates of TTCN-3 will be new editions Ø TTCN-3 edition 4 etc. q No further new editions in 2007 Ø Change requests (not a large number) are being archived q ETSI TC MTS will probably start a maintenance STF (Specialist Task Force) starting early in 2008 Ø May be some functional additions • Real time aspects • Performance • Continuous signals Ø Stability is important Ø Package concept TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 30

World Class Standards The Future of TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 My name is TRI and I bite! 31

World Class Standards Key Players for the Future of TTCN-3 Test Tools Standards Bodies SME and Academia Large Vendors Industrial Fora TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 32

World Class Standards ETSI’s Role? q IOP is one of the ultimate aims of ICT standardisation q IOP is the red thread running through the entire standards development process, it’s not an isolated issue Ø Not something to be somehow fixed at the end q Even more important when multiple standards organisations involved q ETSI philosophy Ø Interoperability is built-in! Ø Testing is a key component in that philosophy TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 33

World Class Standards Take Up at ETSI Increasing q q q q IETF SIP (RFC 3261) TISPAN NGN UMTS IMS (SIP) IPv 6 Core, Security, Mobility, Transitioning PMR (Public Mobile Radio) Wi. MAX. 3 GPP LTE committed to TTCN-3 New test suites will be in TTCN-3 Ø E. g. , Wi. MAX and IMS interoperability, UWB, … Ø CONFORMANCE and INTEROPERABILITY testing q Possibilities Ø Ø e. Business, e. Health, e. Call EUROCAE (European Skies) SDR (Software Defined Radio) GRID TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 34

World Class Standards Bodies Fora & Industry Interdependencies between specification and testing Certification Products mature from prototypes to commercial products Interoperability events & other validation activities Iterative feedback Interoperability Testing (Unit) Conformance Testing time Iterative feedback Interoperability Test Specifications Conformance Test Specifications Development of base standards TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 35

World Class Standards Combining Interoperability Testing with Conformance Verification TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 36

World Class Standards Test Specification Development Successive Levels of Abstraction TPLan Standard Test Purposes Test Descriptions TTCN-3 Test Suite Compilation Requirements Catalogue and/or ICS/IXIT Test Case Parameterisation and Selection TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 Executable Tests 37

World Class Standards Synergy With ETSI Plugtests. TM TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 38

World Class Standards Future Initiatives? q q q Appoint TTCN-3 Champions TTCN-3 Foundation (Franck Le Gall) Ensure key uptake: 3 GPP (LTE), Wi. MAX, Interop Other industries – auto, aerospace, rail, power, … Encourage Open Source initiatives Provide entry-level tools Investigate promotional opportunities – market survey Spread beyond Europe - awareness in China, India etc. Continue with this conference - T 3 UC Asia, US? Universities European projects (e. g. , Go 4 Three) TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 39

World Class Standards Future is in Quality q Promote the TTCN-3 Certificate program q Use of testing frameworks Ø e. g. TC MTS IP Testing Framework q Introduction of Quality metrics? q ETSI style guide? q Benchmarking of tools? TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 40

World Class Standards We Need to Slay the Adaptation Demon Is Open Source the Weapon? TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 41

World Class Standards Some Simple Goals q TTCN-3 User Conference Asia q Make 1500 Users per (large) company the norm, not the exception q Get TTCN-3 onto academic syllabuses q We’ll never get those 93 000 Google hits, but let’s make TTCN 3 the Java of the testing world Ø So maybe 1 000 TTCN-3 hits by 2010 is something to go for Ø Already 894 000 Google hits for TTCN q Make a (big) Open Source project for TTCN-3 happen TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 42

World Class Standards Back to the Future Part III We should all be concerned about the future because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there. q TTCN-3 is not about a few persons, or one company, or a single organisation q In the end, its about you, the USERS! q If testing needs to be done then let’s put TTCN-3 at the centre q Its up to us all, as a community, to create that future … TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 43

World Class Standards q Well, we’ve gone through some of the Places, Artefacts, Dates and all of the Ducks q So, now for the names … TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 44

Udo Bayer Marsha Drubet Jeff Watkins. World Class Standards Oz Monkewich Bernd Baumgarten Paul Baker Thomas Wernitz Stephan Tobies Claude des Roches Stephan Schulz Thomas Deiss Andreas Ulrich Dieter Hogrefe Colin Wilcock Jens Grabowski Ina Shieferdecker Gyorgy Rethy ETSI 45 TTCN-3 User Conference 2007 ISO The End