Test assertions can even be derived automatically from Component Interaction Specifications. The ITL compiler, itlc, uses a set of files called a binding to translate ITL into an implementation language. Different bindings can be created to absorb the differences between one platform and the next, thus achieving a higher degree of platform independence. Bindings for other platforms are easily created by copying and modifying the existing bindings with a text editor. The platform changes are then automatically applied to all ITL compilations that select the new binding.
Specialized support is provided for conformance testing, performance testing, and server emulation.
Interfaces and operations that are not relevant to the scenario under test can be omitted completely. Interfaces can be specified generically using their IDL names, or different names can be assigned to specific server instances. Instead of defining all behaviors procedurally, an ITL file may instead reference a Component Interaction Specification. A Component Interaction Specification, or CIS, is a textual specification of an interaction scenario for an entire distributed system. A CIS can be used to generate servers that will execute the scenario that it describes.