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Go: Property-Based Testing
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Go: Property-Based Testing

Roman
Author
Roman
Photographer with MSci in Computer Science and a Home Lab obsession
Table of Contents

Following the Learn Go with Tests guide, exploring property-based testing.

Table tests for Roman numeral conversion, and property-based testing at the end.

Table-Driven Tests
#

Test Cases
#

var cases = []struct {
	Arabic uint
	Roman  string
}{
	{Arabic: 1, Roman: "I"},
	{Arabic: 2, Roman: "II"},
	{Arabic: 3, Roman: "III"},
	{Arabic: 4, Roman: "IV"},
	{Arabic: 5, Roman: "V"},
	{Arabic: 6, Roman: "VI"},
	{Arabic: 7, Roman: "VII"},
	{Arabic: 8, Roman: "VIII"},
	{Arabic: 9, Roman: "IX"},
	{Arabic: 10, Roman: "X"},
	{Arabic: 14, Roman: "XIV"},
	{Arabic: 18, Roman: "XVIII"},
	{Arabic: 20, Roman: "XX"},
	{Arabic: 39, Roman: "XXXIX"},
	{Arabic: 40, Roman: "XL"},
	{Arabic: 47, Roman: "XLVII"},
	{Arabic: 49, Roman: "XLIX"},
	{Arabic: 50, Roman: "L"},
	{Arabic: 100, Roman: "C"},
	{Arabic: 90, Roman: "XC"},
	{Arabic: 400, Roman: "CD"},
	{Arabic: 500, Roman: "D"},
	{Arabic: 900, Roman: "CM"},
	{Arabic: 1000, Roman: "M"},
	{Arabic: 1984, Roman: "MCMLXXXIV"},
	{Arabic: 3999, Roman: "MMMCMXCIX"},
	{Arabic: 2014, Roman: "MMXIV"},
	{Arabic: 1006, Roman: "MVI"},
	{Arabic: 798, Roman: "DCCXCVIII"},
}

Testing Arabic to Roman
#

func TestRomanNumerals(t *testing.T) {
	for _, test := range cases {
		t.Run(fmt.Sprintf(
			"%d gets converted to %q", 
			test.Arabic, 
			test.Roman,
		), func(t *testing.T) {
			got := ConvertToRoman(test.Arabic)
			if got != test.Roman {
				t.Errorf("got %q, want %q", got, test.Roman)
			}
		})
	}
}

Testing Roman to Arabic
#

func TestConvertToArabic(t *testing.T) {
	for _, test := range cases {
		t.Run(fmt.Sprintf(
			"%q gets converted to %d", 
			test.Roman, 
			test.Arabic,
		), func(t *testing.T) {
			got := ConvertToArabic(test.Roman)
			if got != test.Arabic {
				t.Errorf("got %d, want %d", got, test.Arabic)
			}
		})
	}
}

Roman Numeral Converter
#

Data Structure
#

type RomanNumeral struct {
	Value  uint
	Symbol string
}

var allRomanNumerals = []RomanNumeral{
	{1000, "M"},
	{900, "CM"},
	{500, "D"},
	{400, "CD"},
	{100, "C"},
	{90, "XC"},
	{50, "L"},
	{40, "XL"},
	{10, "X"},
	{9, "IX"},
	{5, "V"},
	{4, "IV"},
	{1, "I"},
}

Conversion Functions
#

Arabic to Roman Conversion
#

This function uses Go’s strings.Builder for efficient string concatenation, which is much more performant than repeatedly concatenating strings with the + operator.

func ConvertToRoman(arabic uint) string {
	var result strings.Builder

	for _, numbers := range allRomanNumerals {
		for arabic >= numbers.Value {
			result.WriteString(numbers.Symbol)
			arabic -= numbers.Value
		}
	}

	return result.String()
}

Roman to Arabic Conversion
#

func ConvertToArabic(roman string) uint {
	var arabic = 0

	for _, numerals := range allRomanNumerals {
		for strings.HasPrefix(roman, numerals.Symbol) {
			arabic += numerals.Value
			roman = strings.TrimPrefix(
				roman, 
				numerals.Symbol,
			)
		}
	}
	return arabic
}

Property-Based Testing
#

Property-based testing is a testing technique that verifies that certain properties hold for a wide range of inputs, rather than testing specific cases. Go’s testing/quick package provides tools for property-based testing by generating random inputs.

Round-Trip Property Test
#

func TestPropertiesOfConversion(t *testing.T) {
	// Define a property: converting to Roman and back 
	// should yield the original number
	assertion := func(arabic uint) bool {
		// Skip values outside Roman numeral range (1-3999)
		// Roman numerals traditionally don't represent 
		// numbers > 3999
		if arabic > 3999 {
			return true // Skip this test case
		}
		
		t.Log("testing", arabic)
		roman := ConvertToRoman(arabic)
		fromRoman := ConvertToArabic(roman)
		return fromRoman == arabic
	}

	// quick.Check generates random uint values and 
	// tests our assertion
	if err := quick.Check(assertion, &quick.Config{
		MaxCount: 1000, // Test with 1000 random inputs
	}); err != nil {
		t.Error("failed checks", err)
	}
}

Why Property-Based Testing?
#

Property-based testing helps us:

  1. Discover edge cases we might not think to test manually
  2. Test with much broader input coverage than manual test cases