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Nature Inspired Testing Thoughts

Nature Inspired Testing Thoughts

Ever thought about DNA? I mean, the fact that DNA is a way to store executable instructions? That sounds a lot like code.

This talk is an exploration of what Nature can teach us about testing software.

Notes by slide:
Slide 6)
Adenine [A] can only pair with Thymine [T]
Cytosine [C] can only pair with Guanine [G]

“It [DNA] generally repairs mistakes in the placement of bases as it replicates itself. This repair work is performed by DNA Polymerase, the enzyme that helps catalyze construction of new DNA from single strands.”

“If an adenine is mistakenly set in place to become linked with a guanine (not its correct partner), the polymerase recognizes that mistake, backtracks by one pair, fixes the mismatch, and then moves on. So the rate of mutation in most DNA viruses is relatively low.”
From Spillover pg. 237

Image Attribution: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/DNA#mediaviewer/File:DNA_chemical_structure.svg
Madeleine Price Ball

Slide 8)
RNA can form a double helix, but is still not as stable (ribose vs deoxyribose).
RNA is a single stranded molecule, generally, with a single base.
Uracil represents the [U] in RNA. It usually takes the place of thymine.

Image Attribution: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RNA-Nucleobases.svg

Slide 10)
The enzyme employed by RNA viruses, on the other hand, is “error prone,” according to Eddie. “It’s just a really crappy polymerase,” which doesn’t proofread, doesn’t backtrack, doesn’t correct erroneous...

Paul Burt

July 01, 2015
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Transcript

  1. @rainforestqa rainforest DNA … + is strongly typed. + has

    unit tests. + is slow (harder to change).
  2. @rainforestqa rainforest RNA … + is weakly typed. + does

    not test. + is fast (easy to change).
  3. @rainforestqa rainforest RNA’s Transcription Enzyme Is “error prone […] It’s

    just a really crappy polymerase,” From Spillover, pg. 273
  4. @rainforestqa rainforest The Take-Away • Scripts and other tiny software?

    Ok to roll without tests. • Multi-file projects? You MUST test.
  5. @rainforestqa rainforest So yeah, it’s hard. Fear not, JFK offers

    inspiring words: “We choose to go to the moon [write tests] in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills…”
  6. @rainforestqa rainforest Why the Boom and Bust? • Predation?
 •

    Food scarcity or abundance?
 • Venus is in retrograde motion?
  7. When a caterpillar wanders through a prior infection, it too

    becomes infected, then melts. The resulting melt drips on leaves. It’s neighbors (likely) become infected. Big population = Big problems
  8. @rainforestqa rainforest The Take-Away • Some bugs are only revealed

    in large sets. For example, lots of users. • If you’re seeing erratic and seemingly random behavior in a bug report… • It could be a melty bug! • (bugs interacting with bugs)
  9. The Take-Away Generally: It’s easier to modify something that exists,

    than to build it from scratch. Adapt, don’t create. That said... adapting is a shortcut. Shortcuts lead to bugs of their own. When bugs appear knowing why helps. Fixing the problem is often significantly easier.
  10. The Take-Away Drift between teams / programming philosophies can be

    beneficial (breeds strength!) Don’t get carried away, though. Taking a creature (or piece of software) out of it’s native environment can have bad effects. Use common sense.
 Small drifts between highly similar products will drive fierce competition. Can be a great natural motivator.
  11. Software Analogues Making changes to code means you increase your

    ‘Unknowns’. Old features will break after making a change. It’s ok! Don’t need to fix it all, just need to know about it. Together, we determine what’s acceptable and what is not.

  12. Famous Viruses Influenza (Birds) Ebola (Bats, we’re pretty sure) HIV

    (Primates) SARS (Bats) Hendra (Bats) Nipah (Bats) Fuck Bats (!)
  13. The Take-Away Like viruses, prions, etc… some bugs are invisible.

    Bugs appear in every imaginable shape and size. As a result… “Bug Free” software is a unicorn. Simulators are sterile environments. To find bugs, you gotta get dirty (test on device / host).
  14. Fin