ABT Foundations • Module 8
Parallel Execution Models
Running tests concurrently without conflicts
Module 8 of 30
"Dear Marilyn,
Our test suite takes 4 hours to run. We tried running tests in parallel but they started failing randomly. How do we speed things up without breaking everything?
— Waiting for CI"
Marilyn Responds:
Four hours is not a test suite; it's a punishment. But parallelization isn't just about running things simultaneously—it's about designing for concurrency.
Tests that share state can't run in parallel safely. Tests that are truly independent can run anywhere, anytime, in any order.
ABT's state management makes parallelization natural, not forced.
Parallelization Patterns
ABT enables safe parallelization through:
- Test Isolation — Each test gets its own state context
- Resource Pooling — Shared resources are managed centrally
- Dependency Declaration — Tests declare what they need, scheduler provides it
- Conflict Detection — Framework prevents incompatible tests from running together
Quick Check: Module 8
Question: What's the prerequisite for safe parallel test execution?
a) Faster computers
b) Test isolation and explicit state management
c) Fewer tests
d) Running tests at night
(Answer: b — Parallel execution requires tests that don't interfere with each other—which requires isolation and state management.)