The ATLAS language-panacea or pariah? Does it only specify the task or does it really drive the tester?

ATLAS is a language intended to be used for the specification of test equipment independent and transportable test programs. Despite the significant amount of effort put into revising and updating the ATLAS standards over the last 25 years, the language is still only used when mandated and is not the automatic choice of engineers. This article discusses the reasons for this and looks at the future development of ATLAS.