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Overview
Description
The Haskell backend is a Python XML-RPC service, which provides - in
tandem with ECSpooler - automatic testing of Haskell programs.
Therefore the backend compares the output of a program with the
output of a model solution for a set of test data.
Prerequisites
* A UNIX or UNIX-like operating system, e.g., NetBSD, Solaris, Mac
OS X, or Linux.
The Haskell backend does run on Windows (with some restrictions),
but this is neither supported nor recommended.
* "Python":http://python.org/
* "Hugs":http://www.haskell.org/hugs/
* "ECSpooler":http://wdok.cs.uni-magdeburg.de/software/ecspooler
* ECSpooler is primarily intended to be used via the
"ECAutoAssessmentBox":http://plone.org/products/ecautoassessmentbox
Plone product. So you will normally have a Plone installation
with ECAutoAssessmentBox.
Installation
* Unzip this archive under the 'backends' directory of your
* Adjust values for INTERPRTER and OPTIONS in the script
executable.
Security
When executing unknown code, you have to take security precautions,
e.g., by using chroot, jails, or systrace. These mechanisms are,
however, system-dependent, so we cannot give detailed installation
instructions.
If you are using "systrace":http://www.systrace.org/, adjust the
environment and set *interpreter* in
Please be aware of the risks if you are *not* able to deal with the
configuration issues.
Quick Start
After installation, first start ECSpooler (see the ECSpooler
documentation for details). Then you should be able to start the
Haskell backend using the following command (you may have to specify
the path)::
backendctl -u root -p bazquux Haskell start
If you run this command as root, the process will be started as user
"nobody".
Once the backend is running, check the status of the backend using::
spoolerctl -u root -p bazquux status
and get a response similar to::
{'queue': 0, 'backends': ['haskell'], 'pid': 26425, 'results': 0}
authentication is required. Therefore ECSpooler ships with a
password "bazquux". See the ECSpooler documentation if you would
Testing a Haskell program with the Haskell backend requires a model
solution and a set of test data, e.g.,
* Model solution::
square x = x * x
* Test data (one test call per line)::
square 0
square 2
square 3
The Haskell backend currently supports three compare modes:
* simple - the results of the student and model solutions for same
test data must be equal
* permutation - accept student solution if the returned list is a
permutation of the result from the model solution
* tolerance - result of student and model solution must be equal to
15 positions after decimal point
More Haskell testing
Testing I/O code in Haskell ist supported by the *HaskellIO*
backend.
The *HaskellQC* backend uses
"QuickCheck":http://www.cs.chalmers.se/~rjmh/QuickCheck/ for testing
with properties and random test data.
Support
For questions and discussions about backends, please join the
"eduComponents mailing
Credits
The Haskell backend was written by "Mario
Amelung":mailto:mario.amelung@gmx.de.
License
The Haskell backend is licensed under the
Copyright © 2007-2011 Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
License, or (at your option) any later version.
The Haskell backend is distributed in the hope that it will be
useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty
of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with ECSpooler; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation,
Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA