Uma Ghotikar talks about “Fundamentals of Unit Testing, BDD and Mocking (using TestBox and MockBox)” in this episode of ColdFusion Alive podcast with host Michaela Light.

Show notes

What is unit testing?

Test small piece of functionality

Low level, small scope, a method, a function, a clause

Why do unit testing

To validate every part of the app whether the UI is ready or not

Easier to know where the bug is located

Faster to run than general user tests, more thorough test coverage of all use cases,  easy to automate

Can write tests before you code

So know where your code needs to raise an error

Guidelines to write unit tests

Fast for immediate feedback (milliseconds) during refactoring and coding

Avoid database, file system, http and API calls - mock them instead

Modular - so can reuse the test

Independent of other unit tests

Robust - work the same independent of time of day etc

Keep them up to date

Clear defined purpose - one piece of functionality

Clear pre-conditions, actions and expected outcomes

When you code make sure you can get the test to fail first before you write code to make it pass

Reactive programming

Most tests are of code in the Model part of MC

Why do you like xUnit and BDD styles of testing?

TDD focuses on testing your low level functions and methods

Tedious to write all these tests

BDD checks you satisfy your customer requirements at high level

User story and scenario

What is TestBox?

Open Source

The Given – When – Then syntax

BDD syntax and xUnit

The general structure for writing unit tests.

Set up, Tear down phrases

What is mocking?

Why do you like MockBox

Open source

What is BDD and why do you like it

High level

CI

How do TestBox and MockBox work together for BDD

Why are you proud to use CF?

WWIT to make CF more alive this year?

What are you looking forward to at Into The Box?

 

Mentioned in this episode

TDD = Test Driven Development

BDD = Behavior Driven Development

xUnit

TestBox

CFML slack test channel

MockBox

 

Session Description:

Topic:

Intro to Unit Testing, BDD and Mocking using TestBox & MockBox

This session will cover the basics such as what is unit testing, why to do unit testing and guidelines to write the unit tests. It will then cover xUnit and BDD styles of testing in TestBox, Given – When – Then syntax and the general structure for writing unit tests. We will then look into the mocking and demo examples of unit testing using TestBox & MockBox.

Listen to the Audio

Bio

Uma Ghotikar

Uma Ghotikar has more than 6 years of experience in web application development, database design and development. She has a technical educational background. She did Master of Science in Information Systems from George Mason University, USA and Bachelor of Engineering in Information Technology from University of Mumbai, India. She enjoys coding especially the back-end development and learning new technical skills.

Links

LinkedIn

Interview transcript

Michaela 0:00

Welcome back to the show. And today we're looking at the fundamentals of unit testing, be DD, which is behavior driven development and mocking and using test box and Dropbox, do that, and I'm here with Alma Gattaca. And if you don't know her, she is a cold fusion developer been doing it CFL on cold fusion for six years now. And she is giving a talk on this topic at into the box. So we will cover what is unit testing and why everyone listening should be doing it. And guidelines for writing great unit tests. And then also we'll look in detail at test box. And what it lets you do and how to structure unit tests using it will look at what marketing is and how to do that using mock box and why you want to do that. And we'll also look at behavior driven development or BDD and why you s...