
Proceedings Paper
Practical experience with test-driven development during commissioning of the multi-star AO system ARGOSFormat | Member Price | Non-Member Price |
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Paper Abstract
Commissioning time for an instrument at an observatory is precious, especially the night time. Whenever
astronomers come up with a software feature request or point out a software defect, the software engineers have
the task to find a solution and implement it as fast as possible. In this project phase, the software engineers
work under time pressure and stress to deliver a functional instrument control software (ICS). The shortness of
development time during commissioning is a constraint for software engineering teams and applies to the ARGOS
project as well. The goal of the ARGOS (Advanced Rayleigh guided Ground layer adaptive Optics System)
project is the upgrade of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) with an adaptive optics (AO) system consisting
of six Rayleigh laser guide stars and wavefront sensors. For developing the ICS, we used the technique Test-
Driven Development (TDD) whose main rule demands that the programmer writes test code before production
code. Thereby, TDD can yield a software system, that grows without defects and eases maintenance. Having
applied TDD in a calm and relaxed environment like office and laboratory, the ARGOS team has profited from
the benefits of TDD. Before the commissioning, we were worried that the time pressure in that tough project
phase would force us to drop TDD because we would spend more time writing test code than it would be worth.
Despite this concern at the beginning, we could keep TDD most of the time also in this project phase
This report describes the practical application and performance of TDD including its benefits, limitations
and problems during the ARGOS commissioning. Furthermore, it covers our experience with pair programming
and continuous integration at the telescope.
Paper Details
Date Published: 18 July 2014
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 9152, Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy III, 91520D (18 July 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2056218
Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9152:
Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy III
Gianluca Chiozzi; Nicole M. Radziwill, Editor(s)
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 9152, Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy III, 91520D (18 July 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2056218
Show Author Affiliations
M. Kulas, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Germany)
Jose Luis Borelli, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Germany)
Wolfgang Gässler, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Germany)
Diethard Peter, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Germany)
Sebastian Rabien, Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik (Germany)
Jose Luis Borelli, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Germany)
Wolfgang Gässler, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Germany)
Diethard Peter, Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie (Germany)
Sebastian Rabien, Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik (Germany)
Gilles Orban de Xivry, Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik (Germany)
Lorenzo Busoni, INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (Italy)
Marco Bonaglia, INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (Italy)
Tommaso Mazzoni, INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (Italy)
Gustavo Rahmer, Large Binocular Telescope Observatory (United States)
Lorenzo Busoni, INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (Italy)
Marco Bonaglia, INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (Italy)
Tommaso Mazzoni, INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (Italy)
Gustavo Rahmer, Large Binocular Telescope Observatory (United States)
Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9152:
Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy III
Gianluca Chiozzi; Nicole M. Radziwill, Editor(s)
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