Testing for Beginners

http://blog.enoughtobedanger.us/testing-for-beginners/

by brycecolquitt • 14 years ago

44 4 14 years ago

blog.enoughtobedanger.us

gailees• 14 years ago

Thank you. I've used Codeacademy, Coursera, Udacity, edX, and while all of them do a somewhat decent job teaching me how to program, I've totally missed the boat on testing.

CobaltHex• 14 years ago

By the way, in the first example you have "should be able to subtract (1-1)" (not verbatim) but is 2-1 in code

nbashaw• 14 years ago

Whoops! Thanks for catching that

bcbrown• 14 years ago

I don't really like that you call tests "just checklists". That's accurate for unit tests, but I don't think it really captures the spirit of integration or functional tests.

Integration tests, to me, provide value by making a space to brainstorm "what if" questions around corner cases of interactions between components. Testing the "happy path" provides confidence that all the individual assumptions aren't inconsistent as a whole.

Functional tests, for me, provide a way to think about "well, this is what we built, and it's internally correct, but is it what will fit the needs of our users?" I would also differentiate between end-to-end scenario testing, and discrete testing of a single unit of functionality. An example of the former would be the signup process, while the latter might be making changes in a preferences configuration screen.

I think it would be worthwhile to also discuss "tenet" testing, such as Performance, Accessibility, Localization/Internationalization, Failover/Rollover, Security.

Testing for Beginners

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