Testfallsatz

Testfallsatz is a compound term used in German technical contexts, combining Testfall (test case) and Satz (sentence or statement). It denotes a concrete statement or scenario that serves as a test case in testing and verification efforts. The concept is not uniformly standardized, but it generally refers to a self-contained unit of a test designed to exercise a specific condition, input, or rule.

In software testing and quality assurance, a Testfallsatz typically describes inputs, preconditions, steps, and the expected outcome for a particular scenario. It serves to ensure reproducibility, traceability, and documentation of tests. A Testfallsatz can be expressed as a brief natural-language description or encoded in a more formal or automated format, such as a test script or a specification language. Examples might specify that given certain user inputs or system states, the system should produce a defined result or transition to a particular state.

In formal methods, verification, and model checking, a Testfallsatz may refer to a concrete assertion or property that is checked against a model. Here the sentence represents a condition that must hold, or a counterexample that could disprove a proposed property.

Usage and terminology vary by field; many practitioners simply use Testfall or Testfall-Szenario. The term Testfallsatz emphasizes the propositional nature of the test statement and its role as a unit of verification within a larger testing or validation effort.

See also: test case, test scenario, verification, validation, model checking.