Presentations about "devbox" and "pytest-regtest"

We are pleased to announce a zoom presentations by Linus Gasser (C4DT Center For Digital Trust, EPFL), Roman Wixinger (Ergon) and Uwe Schmitt (Scientific IT Services of ETH) on 5 November, 11-12 (CET time) on Zoom (https://ethz.zoom.us/j/61451113551):

• Linus and Roman will present an updated version of their RSECon24 presentation “Re-runnable code is all you need”, introducing devbox, a tool for creating “isolated, reproducible development environments that run anywhere”.

• Uwe will present the pytest-regtest plugin for the Python testing framework pytest, which makes it easy to implement tests for complex results, such as nested data structures, NumPy arrays and pandas data frames.

Please note: This call will be recorded.

Please use the ics file to add this event to your calendar.

Abstracts:

Re-runnable code is all you need.

Reproducibility is fundamental to scientific integrity but is increasingly compromised by the common practices of publishing papers without code, or sharing code that cannot be executed easily on another computer due to unmanaged dependencies and computing environments.

This talk introduces the landscape of tools that enable researchers to overcome these barriers, with a focus on Devbox, a tool designed to encapsulate computing environments. With Devbox it is easy to ensure that scientific code is not just runnable but also replicable across various systems.

By highlighting specific case studies, this presentation demonstrates how Devbox and similar technologies can transform research workflows, dramatically saving time with automation, making it easier to collaborate, and enhancing the credibility of results. Attendees will gain actionable strategies to implement a culture of reproducibility, making their research transparent and reproducible with minimal effort.

The pytest-regtest plugin for the Python pytest testing framework

Unlike functional testing, regression testing does not test whether software produces the correct results, but whether it behaves as it did before changes were introduced.

pytest-regtest is a plugin for the popular pytest testing framework for Python. The plugin provides snapshot testing, a method of implementing regression testing by recording results within a test function and comparing it with previously recorded reference data.

Some common use cases for snapshot testing are:

• Providing a safety net when working with code with little or no test setup.
• Testing complex data, such as nested data structures.
• Testing NumPy arrays or pandas data frames

The presentation will discuss these use cases and show how pytest-regtest can be used in such situations.