Chapter 1
Introduction
The Testing and Test Control Notation Version 3 (TTCN-3) is an internationally standardised language for defining test specifications for a wide range of computer and telecommunication systems. It allows the concise description of test behaviour by unambiguously defining the meaning of a test case pass or fail. The predecessor of TTCN-3, TTCN-2, has been used successfully for over a decade, mostly in testing telecommunications systems. In this third revision of TTCN, the best parts of the previous testing language have been combined and extended with a powerful new textual syntax to create a universal testing language whose application area is no longer restricted to testing telecommunication systems.
Five years after the publication of the first edition of this book a lot of things have happened in the TTCN-3 community. TTCN-3 is celebrating its 10th anniversary and has grown into a 10 part standard with four extension packages to date. It has grown into a global testing language used well beyond telecommunication and standardisation. We are witnessing a rapid uptake of the language in Asia—especially India and China—which today provides already more than 40% of all testing services worldwide. TTCN-3 has established itself in the automotive and medical domain, with the banking sector promising to be the next big application area. The continued success and propagation of the language is visible in the annual international TTCN-3 User Conference which reflects ...
