A Guide to Using and Creating Domain Specific Languages for Testing

A Guide to Using and Creating Domain Specific Languages for Testing

Domain-specific languages as a technology are unexceptional: they’ve been around for a while, and there are many of them. What is intriguing, is taking a look at how we can use domain-specific language as a tool.

In this talk, we will look at the benefits of using DSLs, how you might go about designing your own, what you might encounter in the process, and lessons learned. This discussion will Include what you’d need to build, and what is available open source, we’ll look at DSLs in action, and where you can go to learn more.

Gherkin, which we’ll build upon as a core language, is often associated with Business Driven Development. BDD is a methodology, it focuses on the “how”, when compared to food it is like eating paleo-locavore. Gherkin, on the other hand, is a tool, like a frying pan. You can use a frying pan to cook, even if you don’t eat paleo; similarly, Gherkin is a functional tool even when not using the BDD methodology, while in no way diminishing the value to BDD.

We will look at some reasons you might want to implement your own DSLs:

• Reduce the barrier to entry into test automation and BDD;
• Improve trust with customers as testing becomes transparent;
• Create an entry point of Domain Driven Design for existing architectures (it covers Ubiquitous Language, Model-Driven Design, Entities, Repositories, Bounded Context, Context Map, Anti-corruption Layer); and,
• Speed up test creation.

Schedule

6:30 PM: Food & drink (including alcohol) provided and conversation
7:00 PM: Announcements
7:05 PM: Main presentation - Bas Hamer
8:00 PM: Follow-up conversation

About the Presenter

Bas Hamer is a software architect, trainer, and mentor on a mission to help businesses improve their quality assurance processes and procedures, from implementation to testing. As part of this work, Bas continues to develop the tools and methods that help businesses to communicate tests and test results across their organization while making automated testing accessible to everyone.

With over 15 years of experience working with humans and software to improve processes, automation, and communication, Bas has helped numerous companies in diverse fields from finance to entertainment to healthcare to implement custom tools and methods to automate and ensure efficient use of resources. More recently Bas is focused in on designing and implementing BDD frameworks for diverse customers. He also enjoys speaking, mentoring and teaching these methods and tools, for those who will benefit from them most.

Please feel free to connect with him on LinkedIn or reach out to him via email bas@possumlabs.com.