If the test writer has to forsee the bug then it will not be caught.

I am stuck automating software tests. Not unit tests you understand, but functional tests. It is a very dull necessity.

We have a nice little scriptable home-brewed test-bed where we can enact user stimulus and run scripts, change files, etc. It's really quite nifty but, I think, ultimately of very limited use.

Why? Because there are two sorts of automatic tests. The first feeds in stimulus X and checks for result Y, the second feeds in stimulus X and checks that result Y was the only thing that happened. The problem with the first type is that the test writer is required to foresee the bug, which nobody in their right mind could expect him to do. The problem with the second is it is hard to automate at a functional level.

Needless to say...