diff --git a/tests/README b/tests/README deleted file mode 100644 index 8794202e15..0000000000 --- a/tests/README +++ /dev/null @@ -1,27 +0,0 @@ -This directory contains tests for various functionality areas of MicroPython. -To run all stable tests, run "run-tests.py" script in this directory. - -Tests of capabilities not supported on all platforms should be written -to check for the capability being present. If it is not, the test -should merely output 'SKIP' followed by the line terminator, and call -sys.exit() to raise SystemExit, instead of attempting to test the -missing capability. The testing framework (run-tests.py in this -directory, test_main.c in qemu_arm) recognizes this as a skipped test. - -There are a few features for which this mechanism cannot be used to -condition a test. The run-tests.py script uses small scripts in the -feature_check directory to check whether each such feature is present, -and skips the relevant tests if not. - -Tests are generally verified by running the test both in MicroPython and -in CPython and comparing the outputs. If the output differs the test fails -and the outputs are saved in a .out and a .exp file respectively. -For tests that cannot be run in CPython, for example because they use -the machine module, a .exp file can be provided next to the test's .py -file. A convenient way to generate that is to run the test, let it fail -(because CPython cannot run it) and then copy the .out file (but not -before checking it manually!) - -When creating new tests, anything that relies on float support should go in the -float/ subdirectory. Anything that relies on import x, where x is not a built-in -module, should go in the import/ subdirectory. diff --git a/tests/README.md b/tests/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..b0bff4872e --- /dev/null +++ b/tests/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,149 @@ +# MicroPython Test Suite + +This directory contains tests for various functionality areas of MicroPython. +To run all stable tests, run "run-tests.py" script in this directory. + +Tests of capabilities not supported on all platforms should be written +to check for the capability being present. If it is not, the test +should merely output 'SKIP' followed by the line terminator, and call +sys.exit() to raise SystemExit, instead of attempting to test the +missing capability. The testing framework (run-tests.py in this +directory, test_main.c in qemu_arm) recognizes this as a skipped test. + +There are a few features for which this mechanism cannot be used to +condition a test. The run-tests.py script uses small scripts in the +feature_check directory to check whether each such feature is present, +and skips the relevant tests if not. + +Tests are generally verified by running the test both in MicroPython and +in CPython and comparing the outputs. If the output differs the test fails +and the outputs are saved in a .out and a .exp file respectively. +For tests that cannot be run in CPython, for example because they use +the machine module, a .exp file can be provided next to the test's .py +file. A convenient way to generate that is to run the test, let it fail +(because CPython cannot run it) and then copy the .out file (but not +before checking it manually!) + +When creating new tests, anything that relies on float support should go in the +float/ subdirectory. Anything that relies on import x, where x is not a built-in +module, should go in the import/ subdirectory. + +## perf_bench + +The `perf_bench` directory contains some performance benchmarks that can be used +to benchmark different MicroPython firmwares or host ports. + +The runner utility is `run-perfbench,py`. Execute `./run-perfbench.py --help` +for a full list of command line options. + +### Benchmarking a target + +To run tests on a firmware target using `pyboard.py`, run the command line like +this: + +``` +./run-perfbench.py -p -d /dev/ttyACM0 168 100 +``` + +* `-p` indicates running on a remote target via pyboard.py, not the host. +* `-d PORTNAME` is the serial port, `/dev/ttyACM0` is the default if not + provided. +* `168` is value `N`, the approximate CPU frequency in MHz (in this case Pyboard + V1.1 is 168MHz). It's possible to choose other values as well: lower values + like `10` will run much the tests much quicker, higher values like `1000` will + run much longer. +* `100` is value `M`, the approximate heap size in kilobytes (can get this from + `import micropython; micropython.mem_info()` or estimate it). It's possible to + choose other values here too: lower values like `10` will run shorter/smaller + tests, and higher values will run bigger tests. The maximum value of `M` is + limited by available heap, and the tests are written so the "recommended" + value is approximately the upper limit. + +### Benchmarking the host + +To benchmark the host build (unix/Windows), run like this: + +``` +./run-perfbench.py 2000 10000 +``` + +The output of perfbench is a list of tests and times/scores, like this: + +``` +N=2000 M=10000 n_average=8 +perf_bench/bm_chaos.py: SKIP +perf_bench/bm_fannkuch.py: 94550.38 2.9145 84.68 2.8499 +perf_bench/bm_fft.py: 79920.38 10.0771 129269.74 8.8205 +perf_bench/bm_float.py: 43844.62 17.8229 353219.64 17.7693 +perf_bench/bm_hexiom.py: 32959.12 15.0243 775.77 14.8893 +perf_bench/bm_nqueens.py: 40855.00 10.7297 247776.15 11.3647 +perf_bench/bm_pidigits.py: 64547.75 2.5609 7751.36 2.5996 +perf_bench/core_import_mpy_multi.py: 15433.38 14.2733 33065.45 14.2368 +perf_bench/core_import_mpy_single.py: 263.00 11.3910 3858.35 12.9021 +perf_bench/core_qstr.py: 4929.12 1.8434 8117.71 1.7921 +perf_bench/core_yield_from.py: 16274.25 6.2584 12334.13 5.8125 +perf_bench/misc_aes.py: 57425.25 5.5226 17888.60 5.7482 +perf_bench/misc_mandel.py: 40809.25 8.2007 158107.00 9.8864 +perf_bench/misc_pystone.py: 39821.75 6.4145 100867.62 6.5043 +perf_bench/misc_raytrace.py: 36293.75 6.8501 26906.93 6.8402 +perf_bench/viper_call0.py: 15573.00 14.9931 19644.99 13.1550 +perf_bench/viper_call1a.py: 16725.75 9.8205 18099.96 9.2752 +perf_bench/viper_call1b.py: 20752.62 8.3372 14565.60 9.0663 +perf_bench/viper_call1c.py: 20849.88 5.8783 14444.80 6.6295 +perf_bench/viper_call2a.py: 16156.25 11.2956 18818.59 11.7959 +perf_bench/viper_call2b.py: 22047.38 8.9484 13725.73 9.6800 +``` + +The numbers across each line are times and scores for the test: + +* Runtime average (microseconds, lower is better) +* Runtime standard deviation as a percentage +* Score average (units depend on the benchmark, higher is better) +* Score standard deviation as a percentage + +### Comparing performance + +Usually you want to know if something is faster or slower than a reference. To +do this, copy the output of each `run-perfbench.py` run to a text file. + +This can be done multiple ways, but one way on Linux/macOS is with the `tee` +utility: `./run-perfbench.py -p 168 100 | tee pyb-run1.txt` + +Once you have two files with output from two different runs (maybe with +different code or configuration), compare the runtimes with `./run-perfbench.py +-t pybv-run1.txt pybv-run2.txt` or compare scores with `./run-perfbench.py -s +pybv-run1.txt pybv-run2.txt`: + +``` +> ./run-perfbench.py -s pyb-run1.txt pyb-run2.txt +diff of scores (higher is better) +N=168 M=100 pyb-run1.txt -> pyb-run2.txt diff diff% (error%) +bm_chaos.py 352.90 -> 352.63 : -0.27 = -0.077% (+/-0.00%) +bm_fannkuch.py 77.52 -> 77.45 : -0.07 = -0.090% (+/-0.01%) +bm_fft.py 2516.80 -> 2519.74 : +2.94 = +0.117% (+/-0.00%) +bm_float.py 5749.27 -> 5749.65 : +0.38 = +0.007% (+/-0.00%) +bm_hexiom.py 42.22 -> 42.30 : +0.08 = +0.189% (+/-0.00%) +bm_nqueens.py 4407.55 -> 4414.44 : +6.89 = +0.156% (+/-0.00%) +bm_pidigits.py 638.09 -> 632.14 : -5.95 = -0.932% (+/-0.25%) +core_import_mpy_multi.py 477.74 -> 477.57 : -0.17 = -0.036% (+/-0.00%) +core_import_mpy_single.py 58.74 -> 58.72 : -0.02 = -0.034% (+/-0.00%) +core_qstr.py 63.11 -> 63.11 : +0.00 = +0.000% (+/-0.01%) +core_yield_from.py 357.57 -> 357.57 : +0.00 = +0.000% (+/-0.00%) +misc_aes.py 397.27 -> 396.47 : -0.80 = -0.201% (+/-0.00%) +misc_mandel.py 3375.70 -> 3375.84 : +0.14 = +0.004% (+/-0.00%) +misc_pystone.py 2265.36 -> 2265.97 : +0.61 = +0.027% (+/-0.01%) +misc_raytrace.py 367.61 -> 368.15 : +0.54 = +0.147% (+/-0.01%) +viper_call0.py 605.92 -> 605.92 : +0.00 = +0.000% (+/-0.00%) +viper_call1a.py 576.78 -> 576.78 : +0.00 = +0.000% (+/-0.00%) +viper_call1b.py 452.45 -> 452.46 : +0.01 = +0.002% (+/-0.01%) +viper_call1c.py 457.39 -> 457.39 : +0.00 = +0.000% (+/-0.00%) +viper_call2a.py 561.37 -> 561.37 : +0.00 = +0.000% (+/-0.00%) +viper_call2b.py 389.49 -> 389.50 : +0.01 = +0.003% (+/-0.01%) +``` + +Note in particular the error percentages at the end of each line. If these are +high relative to the percentage difference then it indicates high variability in +the test runs, and the absolute difference value is unreliable. High error +percentages are particularly common on PC builds, where the host OS may +influence test run times. Increasing the `N` value may help average this out by +running each test longer.