Bad Tests, Good Tests

Nowadays, developers are expected to provide code verified by automated tests. This idea is deeply rooted in our software production process, and can be facilitated by a number of different tools. We must spend a considerable amount of time creating and maintaining tests. The tests we write should verify some important parts of the system. They should exercise all important cases and document the way the software works. They are also expected to survive refactorings, and even redesigns, of the system. Unfortunately, not all of the tests we write live up to these expectations. This book provides numerous examples of improvements you can introduce to make your tests stronger, more readable, and more resilient to changes. You’ll learn about real-life issues, and discover ways of overcoming them. You’ll get to know new techniques for writing high-quality tests. The goal of this book is to teach you how to write tests in such a way that all the effort you put into them really pays off! If you’ve had only limited experience with tests, then this book will help you avoid the dead ends and traps others have fallen victim to. Learning from your own mistakes is great, but learning from the mistakes of others even better! If you are writing tests on a daily basis, then you’ll benefit especially from being able to compare your own approach to writing tests to those explored here. Seeing how others go about meeting the challenges involved is certainly one of the best ways of improving your own skills in the field.