Test suite
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In software engineering, a test suite, also known as a validation suite, is a collection of test cases that are intended to be used as input to a software program to show that it has some specified set of behaviors. Test suites are used to group similar test cases together. A system might e.g. have a smoke test suite that consists only of smoke tests or a test suite for some specific functionality in the system.
A test suite often contains detailed instructions or goals for each collection of test cases and information on the system configuration to be used during testing. A group of test cases may also contain prerequisite states or steps, and descriptions of the following tests.
Collections of test cases are sometimes incorrectly termed a test plan. They may also be called a test script, or even a test scenario.
[edit] Different types of test suites
An executable test suite is a test suite that is ready to be executed. This usually means that there exists a test harness that is integrated with the suite and such that the test suite and the test harness together can work on a sufficiently detailed level to correctly communicate with the system under test (SUT).
A test suite for a primality testing subroutine might consist of a list of numbers and their primality (prime or composite), along with a testing subroutine. The testing subroutine would supply each number in the list to the primality tester, and verify that the result of each test is correct.
The counterpart of an executable test suite is an abstract test suite. However, often terms test suites and test plans are used, roughly with the same meaning as executable and abstract test suites, respectively.
