SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING PROCESSING IN A TESTING SYSTEM

A system and method is provided for performing processing in a test system. A flexible platform may be provided for developing test programs for performing automated testing. In one such platform, the tester and its instruments are isolated from the tester operating system, permitting any tester operating system to be used. In another example implementation, a user layer of the platform is isolated from the physical layer of the architecture, permitting hardware-independent test programs that can be created and used among different testers having different test hardware and software. In yet another implementation, execution of a test program is isolated from a tester platform operating system, permitting the test program to function independent from the tester platform. In another embodiment, functionality is implemented on the platform such that functions are only added, and that existing links to functions are not broken, ensuring continued test system operation when new software, hardware and/or features are added to the platform. The test system may include a non-deterministic computer system. In one example test system, the system forces execution of one or more computer instructions performed by the non-deterministic computer system to execute within a constant execution time. A deterministic engine, if necessary, waits a variable amount of time to ensure that the execution of the computer instructions is performed over the constant execution time. Because the execution time is constant, the execution is deterministic and therefore may be used in applications requiring deterministic behavior. For example, such a deterministic engine may be used in automated test equipment (ATE) applications.