Compilers can now be tested for conformance to MISRA-C:2004

Amsterdam – 5 January 2016 – On the brink of the new year Solid Sands, the supplier of SuperTest™, the industry-leading and largest compiler test and validation suite for C and C++ compilers, has shipped the SuperTest Mondrian Release to its users. This SuperTest Mondrian Release is now commercially available. In addition to the new MISRA-C:2004 conformance suite, a novel feature in the world of compiler testing and validation, this Mondrian Release also offers an enhanced Depth Suite and many other improvements.

“We are very proud to be the first on the market with a MISRA-C conformance suite”, says Marcel Beemster, CTO of Solid Sands. “The MISRA guidelines become more and more important in the automotive industry where software and safety need to go hand in hand. It is therefore only logical that an independent test suite exists for tools that verify software against the MISRA guidelines. Our suite contains more than 750 tests divided into tests that should and tests that should not trigger a MISRA diagnostic. The suite was carefully constructed to minimize the number of unintended diagnostics so that both automatic and manual assessment of test results is feasible.”

The well known and very powerful arithmetic test suite (the Depth Suite) that Solid Sands offers as part of SuperTest has been improved. The Depth Suites are generated for specific data models and have detailed knowledge about the boundaries of target arithmetic. SuperTest includes variants of the Depth Suite for more than 30 data models. SuperTest already contained fixed-point extensions in the Depth Suite for target compilers supporting Embedded C (ISO TR18037) which requires the use of type specifiers. Yet many alternative fixed-point extensions exist. The new developments give more freedom in the implementation of fixed-point types. By introducing type macro’s that can be overruled easily with external definitions, the use of type specifiers is avoided. This makes the fixed-point Depth Suite available to a much wider range of fixed-point extended compiler implementations.

“We are aware that in today’s compiler development practice, open source test suites are frequently used.” says Marianne Damstra, CCO of Solid Sands. “We are surprised by their popularity because it is a widely acknowledged fact that they are not adequate for thorough conformance testing against the ISO C standard. With this SuperTest Mondrian Release we continue to provide a superior level of quality, as you should expect from a solid and professional test suite. SuperTest brings compilers to a higher confidence level. This is particularly important in markets where compiler quality really matters, such as safety critical markets.”

About Solid Sands: Solids Sands is the one-stop shop for C and C++ compiler testing, validation and safety services. With SuperTest, Solid Sands offers the largest compiler test and validation suite with a unique level of compiler test coverage. SuperTest starts where other suites end. SuperTest supports its customers to achieve a high software quality level required by the ISO standards. More information on Solid Sands product and services is available at www.solidsands.nl and you can follow us on LinkedIn.

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