Proposal: Let us adopt the Gerry Jackson test suite as part of Forth 200x

Sounds like a sensible idea to me!

Great idea!

The proposal is short on details. What do you mean by "adopt"?

Should the standard document include the tests in the test suite, and be updated whenever the test suite is? That would cause a lot of work for the editor; not sure if the benefit is worth it.

Or should the standard document replace its tests with a reference to the test suite? That would make it harder to see both at once, which can be useful for understanding the normative part (by someone who is not familiar with the described word), and also useful for checking the tests (for someone who is familiar with the described word).

I guess the ideal approach would be that the tests contain information that states the section of the standard that the tests test, and that forth-standard.org automatically puts the tests into the appropriate sections. Then we don't need the tests in the latex version and the PDF (where I don't find them useful). But this would need work by both Gerry Jackson and Gerald Wodni, so if we want to go there, we should ask them if they are willing to do that.

By adopt, I mean that we say that the test suite maintained by Gerry, the version currently at some location is the official test suite for Forth200x. This does not mean that it is the only test suite, but that we the committee recognise it as a quality test suite. The details of what we do and do not want or say can be thrashed out at the next meeting. Since this is a non-normative section, we can even vote if we can find a suitable form of words.

Ideally, the current document's tests and Gerry's should be merged - a source file is needed for people who wish to test their systems. I agree that the tests can be valuable for understanding and I have encourage Gerry (and potential assistants) to include more documentation.

Your point about taking workload off the editor is valuable.

I will put the topic on the meeting agenda.

The committee thinks, that the test-harness should be proposed as standard words and be part of an existing wordset (e.g. tools) or a new one (e.g. testing).

Furthermore the testcases shall be easily usable by systems and appear under the words they apply to. Existing testcases in the standard also will be moved into the new test-system.