QuickCheck is a combinator library

Combinator library

A combinator library is a software library which implements combinators for a functional programming language; "the key idea is this: a combinator library offers functions that combine functions together to make bigger functions"...

 written in Haskell

Haskell (programming language)

Haskell is a standardized, general-purpose purely functional programming language, with non-strict semantics and strong static typing. It is named after logician Haskell Curry. In Haskell, "a function is a first-class citizen" of the programming language. As a functional programming language, the...

, designed to assist in software testing

Software testing

Software testing is an investigation conducted to provide stakeholders with information about the quality of the product or service under test. Software testing can also provide an objective, independent view of the software to allow the business to appreciate and understand the risks of software...

 by generating test case

Test case

A test case in software engineering is a set of conditions or variables under which a tester will determine whether an application or software system is working correctly or not. The mechanism for determining whether a software program or system has passed or failed such a test is known as a test...

s for test suite

Test suite

In software development, a test suite, less commonly known as a validation suite, is a collection of test cases that are intended to be used to test a software program to show that it has some specified set of behaviours. A test suite often contains detailed instructions or goals for each...

s. It is compatible with the GHC

Glasgow Haskell Compiler

The Glorious Glasgow Haskell Compilation System, more commonly known as the Glasgow Haskell Compiler or GHC, is an open source native code compiler for the functional programming language Haskell. The lead developers are Simon Peyton Jones and Simon Marlow...

 compiler

Compiler

A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...

 and the Hugs

Hugs

Hugs , also Hugs 98, is a bytecode interpreter for the functional programming language Haskell. Hugs is the successor to Gofer, and was originally derived from Gofer version 2.30b. Hugs and Gofer were originally developed by Mark P. Jones, now a professor at Portland State University.Hugs comes...

 interpreter

Interpreter (computing)

In computer science, an interpreter normally means a computer program that executes, i.e. performs, instructions written in a programming language...

.

In QuickCheck the programmer writes assertions about logical properties that a function should fulfill; these tests are specifically generated to test and attempt to falsify these assertions. The project was started in 2000. Besides being used to test regular programs, QuickCheck is also useful for building up a functional specification

Functional specification

A functional specification in systems engineering and software development is the documentation that describes the requested behavior of an engineering system...

, for documenting what functions should be doing, and for testing compiler implementations.

Re-implementations of QuickCheck exist for Erlang, Chicken Scheme, Scheme, Common Lisp

Common Lisp

Common Lisp, commonly abbreviated CL, is a dialect of the Lisp programming language, published in ANSI standard document ANSI INCITS 226-1994 , . From the ANSI Common Lisp standard the Common Lisp HyperSpec has been derived for use with web browsers...

, Perl

Perl

Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...

, Python

Python (programming language)

Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...

, Ruby

Ruby (programming language)

Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, general-purpose object-oriented programming language that combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like features. Ruby originated in Japan during the mid-1990s and was first developed and designed by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto...

, Java

Java (programming language)

Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

, Scala, F#, Smalltalk

Smalltalk

Smalltalk is an object-oriented, dynamically typed, reflective programming language. Smalltalk was created as the language to underpin the "new world" of computing exemplified by "human–computer symbiosis." It was designed and created in part for educational use, more so for constructionist...

, Standard ML, JavaScript

JavaScript

JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....

, Node.js

Node.js

Node.js is a software system designed for writing highly-scalable internet applications, notably web servers.Programs are written in JavaScript, using event-driven, asynchronous I/O to minimize overhead and maximize scalability....

, Clojure

Clojure

Clojure |closure]]") is a recent dialect of the Lisp programming language created by Rich Hickey. It is a general-purpose language supporting interactive development that encourages a functional programming style, and simplifies multithreaded programming....

, C

C (programming language)

C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....

, C++

C++

C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...

, D

D (programming language)

The D programming language is an object-oriented, imperative, multi-paradigm, system programming language created by Walter Bright of Digital Mars. It originated as a re-engineering of C++, but even though it is mainly influenced by that language, it is not a variant of C++...

, ObjC, OCaml, Factor

Factor (programming language)

Factor is a stack-oriented programming language created by Slava Pestov. Factor is dynamically typed and has automatic memory management, as well as powerful metaprogramming features. The language has a single implementation featuring a self-hosted optimizing compiler and an interactive development...

, Io

Io (programming language)

Io is a pure object-oriented programming language inspired by Smalltalk, Self, Lua, Lisp, Act1, and NewtonScript. Io has a prototype-based object model similar to the ones in Self and NewtonScript, eliminating the distinction between instance and class. Like Smalltalk, everything is an object and...

.

Further reading

External links

• "Introduction to QuickCheck" -(on the Haskell wiki)
• "QuickCheck as a test set generator: Haskell as an ultimate "smoke testing" tool OR Using QuickCheck as a DIY test data generator"
• "QuickCheck / GADT"
• "Introductory Haskell: Solving the Sorting-It-Out Kata" -(demonstration of the use of QuickCheck in solving a programming problem)
• QuickCheck testimonial
• "System.FilePath, automated testing"
• "Chapter 11. Testing and quality assurance" of Real World Haskell; covers property-based testing using QuickCheck