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Is user a monkey?

developer.android.com

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Re: Is user a monkey?

#3

Post by pgbovine »

when i was doing Palm OS programming back in the stone age, i remember the simulator had a "monkey testing mode", where it would just generate GUI events randomly. it was actually quite useful for uncovering sporadic crashes.

EDIT: ha, i found a reference, they're called Gremlins

http://users.jyu.fi/~mweber/teaching/docs/palmos/book/ch10.h...

Re: Is user a monkey?

#5

Post by mayanklahiri »

pgbovine wrote: post #3

when i was doing Palm OS programming back in the stone age, i remember the simulator had a "monkey testing mode", where it would just generate GUI events randomly. it was actually quite useful for uncovering sporadic crashes. EDIT: ha, i found a reference, they're called Gremlins http://users.jyu.fi/~mweber/teaching/docs/palmos/book/ch10.h...

I believe it's also called "fuzz testing"

Re: Is user a monkey?

#6

Post by JoelSutherland »

pgbovine wrote: post #3

when i was doing Palm OS programming back in the stone age, i remember the simulator had a "monkey testing mode", where it would just generate GUI events randomly. it was actually quite useful for uncovering sporadic crashes. EDIT: ha, i found a reference, they're called Gremlins http://users.jyu.fi/~mweber/teaching/docs/palmos/book/ch10.h...

Calling them Gremlins is actually a reference to the British Royal Air Force in WWII. The airmen would blame 'gremlins' for mechanical issues or even problems during flight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gremlin#Origins

Famous children's author Roald Dahl popularized them after he left the RAF to become a writer. If you get a chance, read a biography of Roald Dahl. He truely was the most interesting man in the world. (WWII Ace Fighter Pilot, British Secret Agent, invented a brain-heart valve, married an Academy Award winning actress, pioneered a stroke recovery program and sold over 100 million books.)

Re: Is user a monkey?

#8

Post by pretz »

pgbovine wrote: post #3

when i was doing Palm OS programming back in the stone age, i remember the simulator had a "monkey testing mode", where it would just generate GUI events randomly. it was actually quite useful for uncovering sporadic crashes. EDIT: ha, i found a reference, they're called Gremlins http://users.jyu.fi/~mweber/teaching/docs/palmos/book/ch10.h...

That's exactly why this method exists on Android. They have a similar testing tool called Monkey: http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/monkey.h...
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