Unit Test
Plenty of folks do not have a comfort level with the exposure of unit test practice. It forms peer pressure causing them to play very close to the vest. But there is nothing to worry about, and every person or folks can learn to climb the steep of a hill.
Let’s start with unit testing by assuming that you know absolutely nothing about the unit testing. But before that, make sure to learn and gain the necessary information of the unit test.
What is Unit Testing?
Unit testing is a way of testing a unit, and the smallest piece of code can be logically isolated in a system. In programming languages, there is a function, method, and subroutine. The isolated part of the code is essential. Tests are not unit tests when they rely on some external source of systems. Unit testing requires system configuration, and it cannot be run in the same period as any other test.
What Is Unit Testing, not?
At first, make yourself clear about the unit test as any misconceptions by talking about what does not actually count and not every test conceivably qualify as a unit test. If you write the code which stuffs things into a database or which reads a file from disk, then it means it is not written in a unit test. The unit test does not deal with the environment and with external systems to the codebase. If something is written which fails when you proceed to run on a machine without proper steps, then it also means that you have not written a unit test.
Unit testing does not count as another sort of test so if you make some test which can throw thousands of requests for a service which you have written, then that qualifies as a smoke test and not as a unit test. The unit test mainly does not generate any random data and pepper your application with it in unpredictable sequences. Unit tests do not exercise the various components of your system and how they perform. If you have a console application, then you are executing an end to end system test; it is not a unit test.
While proceeding with tests, it does add value, and it is a part of your general approach to code quality. Tests don’t fall under the heading of unit tests. The test should be fast. For example, the Mocha testing framework, by default, considers any test that takes more than 75ms to run as a slow test.
What are the benefits of Unit Testing?
Unit testing offers enormous benefits which include finding software bugs at an early stage and providing a source of documentation. Unit testing also includes facilitating change and simplifying integration. Here are some essential benefits mentioned that will lift your information regarding the Unit Test.
- Makes the Procedure Agile
The main advantage of unit testing is that it creates the coding process more agile. When more features are added to the software, you need to change old design and code. But it is not easy to change tested code as it can be risky and costly at the same time.
Unit testing goes hand in hand with agile programming of all flavours as it is built-in tests which enable to make changes more quickly. It can be defined as unit tests facilitating safe refactoring.
Unit testing makes sure to improve the quality of the code as it identifies every fault which may arise before code is sent further for integration testing. Unit testing exposes the edge cases and creates better code. It provides good quality of code.
- Finds Software Bugs at Early Stage
Developers carry out unit testing, and they test code individually before integration. This makes it possible to detect any issues at an early stage, and these issues can be resolved quickly. By finding the software bugs at an early stage helps a lot and there without impacting the other piece of code, it can be fixed easily. Mainly the issues include bugs in the programmer’s implementation and flaws of the missing parts of the specifications for the unit.
Unit testing enables the programmer to refactor code or to upgrade the system libraries at a later date. Unit testing ensures the model to work correctly and detects changes immediately, which may break a design contract. These features help with maintaining and changing the code as well.
Unit testing decreases the faults in the newly developed features by reducing software bugs while changing the existing functionality. It also verified the accuracy of every individual unit as the units are integrated into an application by testing those parts by using the unit testing method of the application. The unit testing process is more straightforward because of the verification of the individual units.
Unit testing allows documentation of the system as the developers of unit testing look to learn and figure out what a unit offers functionality and how it is used to look at the unit tests to gain a basic understanding of the unit’s interface.
Unit testing simplifies the debugging procedure and if the test fails then only the latest changes made in the code need to be debugged.
Unit testing creates better designs. Testing a piece of code forces us to describe what the code is responsible for and code responsibility is well defined, and therefore it has high cohesion.
As you know, unit testing detects software bugs early, and this helps to reduce the costs of fixing bugs. Bugs which are seen more first are more comfortable to fix because bugs detected later are usually the result of many changes.
Read more: Agile Testing: How QA Works When Your Team Goes Agile
Unit Testing Tutorial
- A dead and Simple Unit Test
For the rest, let’s focus on the tutorial of unit testing with a hypothetical and relatively trivial calculator class.
Public class Calculator
{
public int Add (int x, int y)
{
return x+y;
}
}
This calculation looks pretty reliable at first glance and does all the code you write. Still make sure to test it and then prove your rightness to others.
As a reference add a new console project to the project containing calculator like so.
- Unit test #C Add Console application
Have a look on the following in the main of the Calculator Tester
class Program
{
static void Main(string[]args)
{
var calculator = new Calculator();
int calculator = calculator.Add(5,6);
if (result ! = 11)
throw new validOperationException();
}
}
Unit Testing Practices
There are several types of automated testing, like front end testing, smoke testing, end to end testing and load testing. It is essential to know all the types of testing by learning all the pros and cons of every test to detect the best scenario for your fit. Here it is about the direction of unit testing for best practices.
Unit testing is one of the most reputed types of automated testing which is widely accepted as the developers itself perform it. And so it reduces any further risk or damage. Here it is shown one of the best practices to ensure help to not fall into the same trap over and over. Programming language should be understandable and applicable for better usage.
Here are the best unit testing practices:
Arrange and Assert
Consider the other sort of unit testing anatomy and the logic components of the best unit test. The test that is written should have the absolute and in the most basic form. Unit testing should be arranged, act and assert.
Consider the test as a hypothesis and your test process as an experiment. In this case, you need to hypothesize the two processes will return you with inputs of 4 and 3. Just rely on the scientific method to know the real idea of unit testing practice.
First, you need to arrange everything to run the experiment of unit testing, and in this case, you have to instantiate a calculator object. For complex situations, you need to seed an item with some variable values or call for a particular constructor.
After arranging it is the time to act. In this situation, you need to invoke the ad method to capture the outcome result. Here the act resembles the star of the unit testing show.
At last, you need to assert. The invocation of the Assert class provides that way, but the concept of assert in the unit test represents a general category of the action which cannot omit to have a unit test. Mainly it asserts the hypothesis itself and represents the essence of unit testing.
Add to the Build
In this, it will conclude with arguably the most crucial best practice. When you are early in the unit testing procedure, then get a start on this one immediately when you only need a single test in your codebase.
If your test fails, then the build fails. If the team has a continuous integration build, then add a new unit test suite’s execution to the build.
The test should be fast.
Do everything in your possible way to release your stress. If it is slow, then developers will not run them as often like the way they should. The whole purpose of having a shite of unit tests is to boost the confidence level of the developers to ensure changes to the code. The test cannot work as the safety net like they are supposed to be if it is processed in slow and not run often.
The test should be Simple
To make your test run fast, you need to learn some basic strategy to do so. Make sure to create them as simple as possible and don’t become dependent on other tests. Ensure mock external dependencies and the tests should be very simple.
Test code is not different from the production code except when it comes to their purpose, and it can have software bugs as well. There are various methods or techniques to apply to make a high degree of the level of confidence in the correctitude of tests. One from those is to keep the tests with low cyclomatic complexity. This cyclomatic complexity is a code metric which defies the various possible execution paths to step on the given method. A code with low complexity is much easier to know and maintain, which also means that the developers of unit testing are less likely to introduce the software bugs while working on it.
Always make sure to keep the tests as simple as possible and straightforward measure the cyclomatic complexity of the tests.
The test should not be duplicated
Tests should not duplicate any implementation logic as this item is a sort of a continuation of the entire previous one. Tests which fail need to step on the best practices methods to make better and to disrespect the previous one as well. The code is problematic as the test code almost becomes a carbon copy of the implementation code, and if the same person wrote both the tests, then it is more likely possible to make the same error at the two spots. But just because tests mirror the implementation, then they might still pass which puts them in a horrific condition. If the performance is wrong, then the tests might fool you into thinking otherwise.
Make sure to resist the urge to create fancy tests. Keep them simple, and testing will be the best for it.
Tests Should Be Readable
Unit test best practice overlaps a little bit with the one of keeping the tests simple. If the tests are hard to understand and read, then developers are more likely to misunderstand them and can arise software bugs. There are other reasons also to advocate for test reliability. Test cases form of documentation, and they are executable and don’t get out of sync with what it is documenting. It is essential to be readable to reap all the advantages of the executable specifications.
Tests Must Be Deterministic
Make sure to make your tests deterministic. Your test should present the same behaviours if there are no past changes to the test code while running the test.
If you have a function ‘a ().’ then you write a test, and the test is passing. If you don’t change that function, then the test will continue to pass, and it will keep going no matter how multiple times you run it.
Ignore Test Interdependence
Every unit test should handle its setup and tear down. The test runner will execute the staff in whatever order it eases depending on the particular runner. If you are performing two tests, then the test runner may happen to execute them in the same order every time. After weeks it may upset you by this mix of the test may start failing because of the ordering. This will only create a colossal fuss to infuriate you. So it is better to avoid the interdependence at all costs.
Keep It Short and Visible
Whenever a test fails, you start wondering where it went wrong. If you have logic strewn, then you will have a defect treasure hunt on your hands. Tests can eliminate that incorrect prod code. So make it easy for your convenience. Make sure to keep the test as short as possible and also ensure to keep it visible. You can try to keep it sweet to avoid any confusion.
Recognize Test Setup Pain
When you write unit tests, then you need to find that arrangement part of your unit test. Avoid unwieldy thieves as they will break and will make you hate them. In order to not face that terrible situation, make sure to take a critical look at your design.
Writing unit tests is very similar to documentation. But the implementation code must have self-documenting.
Why write a unit test?
It is not possible to check every single line of test code, and as a developer, it is a job. By writing, unit tests provide the developers with a piece of ming for moving on the next task. The unit test confirms the behaviour of code and not to write a test to have a customer discover an error in the system.
What are the advantages of writing unit tests?
Unit tests enable you to make significant changes to code quickly. Whenever you create changes, then you need to get the tests working again, and this saves time. Test code works together to achieve better regulation, and the code can be wrong. Unit tests help with coding constipation, and when faced with a large and daunting piece of test work ahead writing the tests will make you move quickly.
Unit tests help to understand the design of the code on which you are working and instead of writing code you are also starting by outlining all the conditions which you are subjecting the code to and what outputs you had expected.
Read more: How to Write Great Frontend Tests?
Final Verdict
A unit test is a faster way and more robust than coding without tests when you have got the hang of it. Unit tests give instant visual feedback which makes it more comfortable. It picks up where the work was left off after an interruption as you will be able to see where you went wrong. It will represent a red light symbol which you need to fix. Get Amplework help for unit testing.
