stan-dev / stan-dev/stan

Add software regression tests

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testing
Dominant language
C++
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Description

Summary:

We don't have software regression tests in place. We should introduce them and test them.

Description:

More accurately, we could use some characterization tests.

Here are a few things that we should test:

  • reproducibility between runs with the same seed for some models (tbd)
  • reproducibility across different commits with some models (tbd)

It's ok that things change over time. We just don't ever want the changes to happen unintentionally.

(There's no reason we can't characterize Stan's behavior before we agree on how to test correctness in light of stochastic algorithms. Once a random seed is set [with a particular set of hardware, environment, etc], it should run the same.)

Current Version:

v2.15.0

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
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  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No files, tests, or entry points are named. Start by locating Stan's existing model test infrastructure, then define characterization cases for reproducibility with the same seed and across commits. Done means the agreed regression tests detect unintended behavioral changes while accounting for hardware and environment.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
testing
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
20/100

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