Skip to main content

Automated Functional Testing Article

It looks like Mr. Sutherland's article on functional testing vs. unit testing has been around for a while, but I just came across it via Hacker News.

Benefits of automated functional testing

My experience with unit tests has been largely ad-hoc, for example when I'm working with a bug-prone chunk of code. I've never been part of a large system with solid unit test coverage or worked in a TDD environment. That being said, I agree with the general premise of Tim's message. As the release manager (by default) on a fairly complex java system, having a number of solid automated functional tests was very valuable to prevent a lot of wasted testing time during busy release weekends. The ROI of creating and maintaining a large set of unit tests seems to be much less.
Labels:

Comments

Matthew said…
I disagree - my friend makes an excellent point here by making an analogy to real-world practically. http://app.arat.us/blog/?p=159

Unit and functional tests both are critical to a robust testing strategy.

We have been practicing TDD now for a bit in our development and it REALLY speeds things up and really helps keep design concrete.
July 8, 2009 at 3:50 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Domain-Specific Language References

I've been meaning to read up on DSL implementation approaches, possibly for use in a thesis project. This is my initial list of references to review. Martin Fowler's online book (work-in-progress) Software Language Engineering: Creating Domain-Specific Languages Using Metamodels by Anneke Kleppe , pub 12/8/09 (available in Safari Books Online) Eclipse Modeling Project: A Domain-Specific Language (DSL) Toolkit by Richard C. Gronback, pub 3/6/09 (available in Safari Books Online, looks Java heavy) Domain-Specific Development with Visual Studio DSL Tools by Steve Cook; Gareth Jones; Stuart Kent; Alan Cameron Wills , pub 5/24/07 (Safari books online)
Post a Comment
Read more

Scaled Protein Mug Cake

  Scaled Ultimate 1-Minute Protein Brownie This scaled recipe adapts The Big Man's World's 1-Minute Protein Brownie for a 5x5-inch square microwave pan, yielding approximately 3 servings. It’s high in protein, gluten-free, and can be made vegan with substitutions. Protein powder is measured in standard scoops, and milk and chocolate chips are in cups, with microwave time adjusted for 70% power on a 1000W microwave. Prep Time : 5 minutes Cook Time : 3.5–5.75 minutes (at 70% power) Total Time : 8.5–10.75 minutes Yield : 3 servings Ingredients 1.5 standard scoops chocolate protein powder (casein, brown rice, or pea protein recommended; 1 scoop ≈ 30g or 2 tbsp) 3 tbsp coconut flour 3 tbsp coconut sugar (or other granulated sweetener) 1.5 tsp baking powder 3 tbsp cocoa powder (dark cocoa powder for richer flavor) 3 large eggs 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp milk of choice (unsweetened almond milk or whole milk) 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional) Optional: sea sal...
Post a Comment
Read more

Turbogears and mod_wsgi setup

This doesn't make for the most entertaining reading, but I've decided to use this blog as my long-term memory for reference material. Currently, I'm getting started on my first python Turbogears 2.0 application, and I need to setup apache with mod_wsgi. These are the references I've accumulated. A good follow-up article would discuss issues I ran into. We'll see how motivated I am. Perplexed labs instructions for setup to support django (Wow, this step was much harder than it should have been. I have a better understanding of our apache infrastructure now though.) Turbogears documentation on apache deployment mod_wsgi quick install guide mod_wsgi integration with pylons (Turbogears controller framework) mod_wsgi using virtualenv Turbogears tutorial on mod_wsgi+virtualenv+modwsgideploy
Post a Comment
Read more