Stable release 6.2A / September 2013 License Proprietary | Operating system Website Cantata product page | |
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Developer(s) IPL Information Processing Limited & QA Systems GmbH since 2012 | ||
Cantata++, or simply Cantata in newer versions, is a commercial computer program for dynamic testing, specifically unit testing and integration testing, and code coverage at run time of C and C++ programs. It is developed and sold by QA Systems, and was formerly a product of IPL Information Processing Ltd.
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Overview
Cantata and Cantata++ were originally developed by IPL Information Processing Systems until 2012 when QA Systems GmbH acquired the business, and founded QA Systems Ltd in Bath (UK). In November 2012 the tool was rebranded at version 6.2 as Cantata. Until 2014 there have been 19 versions released since Cantata (for C) its release in 1992.
The IDE of Cantata is based on Eclipse. Cantata belongs to a category of code-driven unit testing frameworks used for dynamic testing of software. These tools bring compiled test cases to execution with the linked-in code under test. The test executable will run on a computing platform, a native operating system, or a target platform. The integration of debuggers is optional. Typical users of Cantata are either developers of application software programmed in C and C++, or of system software designed for embedded systems and mobile devices.
Industrial use
The development and verification of functional safety software in many industries is governed by international regulatory standards. Therein requirements can be found which relate to functional Safety and how to ensure a certain Safety Integrity Level (SIL). Each of the standards below highly recommends or mandates the use of unit testing and integration testing with a code-driven testing framework:
Cantata may be used in each of these sectors to meet the verification requirements of the regulatory standard. The Cantata tool has been independently classified and certified by the functional safety certification body SGS-TÜV GmbH, as “usable in the development of safety related software” to the highest safety integrity level in each of the above standards. The mapping of verification and validation requirements in each of the above standards for functional software testing, robustness testing and structural testing (code coverage) to the capabilities of Cantata are available from the vendor, together with tool certification kits for IS0 26262, IEC 60880, IEC 61508, IEC 62304 and EN 50128, and tool qualification kits for DO-178B and DO-178C/DO-330.