Changes between Version 117 and Version 118 of DeveloperGuidelinesTesting

Timestamp:

08/15/11 18:29:18 (14 years ago)

Author:

Mike A

Comment:

Added perhaps the most important testing maxim

DeveloperGuidelinesTesting

@@ -66 +66 @@
 Unit tests test the system at the level of units of source code a.k.a. code blocks. Not to be confused with functional or acceptance/customer tests; unit tests verify rather than validate. 
 
+'''Remember: don't write tests to prove your code works, write tests to ''show when and where it fails''; a successful test is one that ''uncovers'' a bug.'''
+
 Pros:
  * stability and reliability - vital for scaling developer teams due to the need for a stable trunk,
@@ -77 +79 @@
 Cons:
  * it takes time to develop and maintain the tests - unit tests are not a free lunch,
- * sloppy tests are as bad or worse than sloppy code - unit tests are not a silver bullet or a free lunch,
+ * testing requires discipline - sloppy tests can be as bad or worse than sloppy code - false positives waste time, false negatives waste even more time. However, in most cases, any test that runs the code is better than no test at all.
 
 === Test Runner ===