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Unit Testing 1

Unit testing involves testing individual software units through automated test cases to validate functionality and prevent regressions. Unit tests cover classes, functions and methods through a testing framework. Regression testing re-executes unit tests after code changes to identify bugs introduced to previously working code. Test fixtures set up test data and environment, while test harnesses automate running test suites and collecting results.

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Valasingam Krishna
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46 views

Unit Testing 1

Unit testing involves testing individual software units through automated test cases to validate functionality and prevent regressions. Unit tests cover classes, functions and methods through a testing framework. Regression testing re-executes unit tests after code changes to identify bugs introduced to previously working code. Test fixtures set up test data and environment, while test harnesses automate running test suites and collecting results.

Uploaded by

Valasingam Krishna
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Unit and Regression Testing

Unit Testing
• Bottom-up approach to testing
• Can incorporate black and glass box
test design
• Automate test execution, report
generation
• Generate confidence that your code
isn’t broken

Software Units
• Smallest testable part of an application
• Procedural - function or procedure
• Object oriented - member function or
method

1
Unit Tests
• Each unit test tests executes a test case
• Units are tested independently of each
other
• Multiple test cases per unit (one per
equivalence class)
• May be difficult to test in isolation.

Test Suite
• A collection of closely related unit tests
– Unit tests for all members of a class
– Unit tests for all functions in a module
– Unit test for all functions related to specific
activity
• A Collection of other test suites

Executing Unit Tests


• Tedious to run all tests by hand - should
be automated
• Have hierarchy of tests for a system
– Test suite contains unit tests for a module
– Test suite contains smaller suites for
subsystems
– Entire test suite contains all top-level tests

2
Test Fixture
• Code that executes tests (or suites)
– Setup
• Create mock (external) objects
• Create test data
• Create object to be tested
– Execute test
– Teardown
• Delete everything, free resources, close
connections

Structured Fixtures

http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/autp1.asp#What%20Is%20A%20Unit%20Test2

Test Harness
• Software environment for executing
tests
– Executes tests, similar to fixture
– Records test results
– Generates test reports

3
Test Hierarchy
• Unit tests of functions (methods)
• Suites of unit tests cover an entire
modules (classes)
• Suites of class test suites cover entire
subsystems (libraries, components)
• Suits of component tests cover entire
system
• Same as integration testing?

Benefits of Unit Testing


• Facilitates change - automatically see if
new changes break compilation, tests
• Helps integration testing - layered test
suites actually integrate the system
• Implicit documentation - see how the
code is actually used
• Enforces interface/implementation split

Limitations of Unit Testing


• Gives illusion of integration testing -
doesn’t really test the system
• May not help with performance issues -
automated tests run when you’re not
watching
• Requires disciplined approach to testing
- write tests for all cases, maintain tests
with software

4
Unit Testing Frameworks
• C++
– Boost.Testing library
– CPPUnit
– CxxUnit
• Java
– Junit
• .NET Languages (C#, VB.NET, etc.)
– NUnit

Regression Testing
• During maintenance, add code, cause
bugs
• Code that did work, but doesn’t after
maintenance is called a regression.
• Requires use of version control system
to help track versions and changes

Types of Regressions
• Local - change introduces a new bug
• Unmasked - changes unmask previous
bugs
• Remote - changing one part breaks
another

5
Alternative Classification
• New feature regression - changes break
new code in version
• Existing feature regression - changes
break old code in version

Reducing Risk of Regression


• Complete test suite repetition
• Automated test suite execution (unit
tests)
• Partial test automation based on impact
analysis
• Customer/user testing (i.e., betas)

Testing Frameworks
• Common testing frameworks (xUnit)
– Testing tools - assertions, checks,
exceptions, etc.
– Runner - controls execution of tests, traps
exceptions, signals
– Reporting - accumulates error messages,
generates test report data

6
Using Frameworks
• Implement per-class test suite as a fixture
• Unit tests are member functions of fixture
• Setup/Teardown are virtual member functions
(or ctor/dtor).
• Register member functions as tests with the
fixture
• Register the fixture with the test “runner”

Executing Tests
• Two options:
– Execute each fixture as its own program
– Register related of fixtures with a top-level
runner, execute that
• Result is always a (large) number of
executable programs

Executing Tests
• Still need programs to:
– Execute fixtures, suites as programs
– Collect output
– Generate system-wide test results
• Other types of tests
– Compilation/Link tests
– Expected failure tests

7
Testing and the Build System
• Testware is software, needs to be built
• Same basic dependency problems as
building software
– code -> exec -> results -> reports
• Most real build systems provide testing
support

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