PCOV vs. PHPUnit vs. Python vs. Xdebug Comparison Chart

PHPUnit requires the dom and json extensions, which are normally enabled by default. PHPUnit also requires the pcre, reflection, and spl extensions. These standard extensions are enabled by default and cannot be disabled without patching PHP’s build system and/or C sources. The code coverage report feature requires the Xdebug (2.7.0 or later) and tokenizer extensions. Generating XML reports requires the xmlwriter extension. Unit Tests are primarily written as a good practice to help developers identify and fix bugs, to refactor code and to serve as documentation for a unit of software under test. To achieve these benefits, unit tests ideally should cover all the possible paths in a program. One unit test usually covers one specific path in one function or method. However a test method is not necessarily an encapsulated, independent entity. Often there are implicit dependencies between test methods, hidden in the implementation scenario of a test.

Xdebug is an extension for PHP, and provides a range of features to improve the PHP development experience. A way to step through your code in your IDE or editor while the script is executing. An improved var_dump() function, stack traces for notices, warnings, errors, and exceptions to highlight the code path to the error. Writes every function call, with arguments and invocation location to disk. Optionally also includes every variable assignment and return value for each function. Allows you, with the help of visualization tools, to analyze the performance of your PHP application and find bottlenecks. Shows which parts of your code base are executed when running unit tests with PHPUnit. Installing Xdebug with a package manager is often the fastest way. You can substitute the PHP version with the one that matches the PHP version that you are running. You can install Xdebug through PECL on Linux & macOS with Homebrew.