Using Assert and Testing

Exceptions

In this lecture I’m going to go over using the built-in Python assert statement in your unit tests and how to test exceptions in Pytest.
 Using the assert Statement
def test_IntAssert(): • Pytest allows the use of the built in
assert 1 == 1 python assert statement for
def test_StrAssert(): performing verifications in a unit test.
assert “str” == “str” • Comparison on all of the python data
def test_floatAssert(): types can be performed using the
assert 1.0 == 1.0 standard comparison operators: <, >,
def test_arrayAssert(): <=, >=, ==, and !=
assert [1,2,3] == [1,2,3] • Pytest expands on the message
returned from assert failures to
def test_dictAssert():
provide more context in the test
assert {“1”:1} == {“1”:1} results.

- Pytest allows the use of the built in python assert statement for performing verifications in a unit test.

- The normal comparison operators can be used on all python data types: less than, greater than, less than or equal, greater than or equal, equal, or not equal

- Pytest expands on the messages that are reported for assert failures to provide more context in the test results.
 Comparing Floating Point Values
• Validating floating point values can
sometimes be difficult as internally
# Failing Test!!!
the value is a binary fractions (i.e. 1/3
def test_BadFloatCompare(): is internally 0.33333333…)
assert (0.1 + 0.2) == 0.3
• Because of this some floating point
comparisons that would be expected
# Passing Test!!! to pass fail.
def test_GoodFloatCompare(): • The pytest “approx” function can be
val = 0.1 + 0.2 used to verify that two floating point
values are “approximately” equivalent
assert val == approx(0.3)
to each other with a default tolerance
of 1e-6.

- Validating floating point values can sometimes be difficult as internally the value is stored as a series of binary fractions.

- Because of this some comparisons that we’d expect to pass will fail.

- Pytest provides the “approx” function which will validate that two floating point values are “approximately” the same value as each other to within a default tolerance of
1 time E to the -6 value.
 Verifying Exceptions
• In some cases we want verify that a
def test_Exception(): function throws an exception under
with raises(ValueError) certain conditions.
raise ValueError
• Pytest provides the “raises” helper to
perform this verification using the
“with” keyword.
• If the specified exception is not
raised in the code block specified
after the “raises” line then the test
fails.

- In some test cases we need to verify that a function raises an exception under certain conditions.

- Pytest provides the raises helper to perform this verification using the “with” keyword.

- When the “raises” helper is used the unit test will fail if the specified exception is not thrown in the code block after the “raises line.