AI is helping people write code.  
Tests are one of those things that some people don't like to write.   

Can AI play a role in creating automated software tests?  
Well, yes. But it's a nuanced yes.  

Anthony Shaw comes on the show to discuss the topic and try to get AI to write some test for my very own cards project.

We discuss:

• The promise of AI writing your tests for you
• Downsides to not writing tests yourself
• Bad ways to generate tests
• Good ways to ask AI for help in writing tests
• Tricks to get better results while using copilot and other AI tools

Links:

• The cards project
• A video version of this discussion: Should AI write tests?

Sponsored by: 

• Porkbun -- named the #1 domain registrar by USA Today from 2023 to 2025!
• Get a .app or.dev domain name for only $5.99 first year.

Learn pytest: 

• The Complete pytest course is now a bundle, with each part available separately.
  • pytest Primary Power teaches the super powers of pytest that you need to learn to use pytest effectively.
  • Using pytest with Projects has lots of "when you need it" sections like debugging failed tests, mocking, testing strategy, and CI
  • Then pytest Booster Rockets can help with advanced parametrization and building plugins.
• Whether you need to get started with pytest today, or want to power up your pytest skills, PythonTest has a course for you.

pytest-repeat 

• is a pytest plugin that makes it easy to repeat a single test, or multiple tests, a specific number of times.  
• works fine on Python 3.14
• is tested on Python 3.9-3.14
• probably works fine still on 3.7 & 3.8

This episode also discusses the attempted April Fools episode.

Links:

• pytest-repeat
• The April Fools episode: Python 3.14 won't repeat with pytest-repeat
  
  

Sponsored by: 

• The Complete pytest course is now a bundle, with each part available separately.
  • pytest Primary Power teaches the super powers of pytest that you need to learn to use pytest effectively.
  • Using pytest with Projects has lots of "when you need it" sections like debugging failed tests, mocking, testing strategy, and CI
  • Then pytest Booster Rockets can help with advanced parametrization and building plugins.
• Whether you need to get started with pytest today, or want to power up your pytest skills, PythonTest has a course for you.

pytest-repeat is a pytest plugin that makes it easy to repeat a single test, or multiple tests, a specific number of times.  

Note: This was an April Fools attempt, so the statement ...
"Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to work with Python 3.14, even though there is no rational reason why it shouldn't work." 
... is NOT true.

Listen to the NEXT episode to get an explanation

Links:

• pytest-repeat
• Next episode: pytest-repeat - works fine on Python 3.14

Sponsored by: 

• The Complete pytest course is now a bundle, with each part available separately.
  • pytest Primary Power teaches the super powers of pytest that you need to learn to use pytest effectively.
  • Using pytest with Projects has lots of "when you need it" sections like debugging failed tests, mocking, testing strategy, and CI
  • Then pytest Booster Rockets can help with advanced parametrization and building plugins.
• Whether you need to get started with pytest today, or want to power up your pytest skills, PythonTest has a course for you.

pytest-html has got to be one of my all time favorite plugins. 
pytest-html is a plugin for pytest that generates a HTML report for test results. 
This episode digs into some of the super coolness of pytest-html.

• pytest-html
• repo readme with screenshot
• enhancing reports
• pytest-metadata

Sponsored by: 

• The Complete pytest course is now a bundle, with each part available separately.
  • pytest Primary Power teaches the super powers of pytest that you need to learn to use pytest effectively.
  • Using pytest with Projects has lots of "when you need it" sections like debugging failed tests, mocking, testing strategy, and CI
  • Then pytest Booster Rockets can help with advanced parametrization and building plugins.
• Whether you need to get started with pytest today, or want to power up your pytest skills, PythonTest has a course for you.

Markdown reports as either text or markdown tables.
Two fun plugins discussed.

Links:

• pytest-md-report
• pytest-md
• Top pytest Plugins

Sponsored by: 

• The Complete pytest course is now a bundle, with each part available separately.
  • pytest Primary Power teaches the super powers of pytest that you need to learn to use pytest effectively.
  • Using pytest with Projects has lots of "when you need it" sections like debugging failed tests, mocking, testing strategy, and CI
  • Then pytest Booster Rockets can help with advanced parametrization and building plugins.
• Whether you need to get started with pytest today, or want to power up your pytest skills, PythonTest has a course for you.

This episode is a replay of a 2021 interview I did with Michael Foord.
We lost Michael in January, and I'd like to revisit this interview as a tribute. 

Michael Foord was a pivotal figure in the Python community and the creator of the mock library that's now unittest.mock. 
But he did so much more as well. 
His contributions continue to resonate within the developer community. 
This interview is just a small peek at his influence. 

In this episode

• Introduction to Michael Foord
• The Mock Library Origins
• Mocking and Testing Philosophy
• Career Path and Consulting
• Understanding Mocking
• The Power of Patch
• Testing Strategies and Design
• Mocking External Dependencies
• Teaching Testing and Mocking

python.org has put up an "In memoriam" page for Michael Foord, and many people have shared stories and memories.

Links:

• In memoriam: Michael Foord 1974-2025
• 30 best practices for software development and testing

pytest-mock is currently the #3 pytest plugin. 
pytest-mock is a wrapper around unittest.mock.

In this episode:

• Why the pytest-mock plugin is awesome
• What is mocking, patching, and monkey patching
• What, if any, is the difference between mock, fake, spy, stub. 
• Why we might need these in testing
• Some history of mock in Python and how mock became unittest.mock
• From unittest.mock
  • patch.object
  • patch.object with autospec
  • using these as context managers
• pytest-mock:
  • The mocker fixture 
  • Cleanup in teardown
  • Using mocker.patch, mocker.spy, and mocker.stub
  • Why it's awesome and why you might want to use it over straight unittest.mock

Links:

• top pytest plugins list
• pytest-mock documentation
• unittest.mock
• Podcast episode discussing unittest.mock with Michael Foord
• monkeypatch

Sponsored by: 

• The Complete pytest course is now a bundle, with each part available separately.
  • pytest Primary Power teaches the super powers of pytest that you need to learn to use pytest effectively.
  • Using pytest with Projects has lots of "when you need it" sections like debugging failed tests, mocking, testing strategy, and CI
  • Then pytest Booster Rockets can help with advanced parametrization and building plugins.
• Whether you need to get started with pytest today, or want to power up your pytest skills, PythonTest has a course for you.

pytest-cov is a pytest plugin that helps produce coverage reports using Coverage.py.

In this episode, we'll discuss:

• what Coverage.py is
• why you should measure code coverage on both your source and test code
• what pytest-cov is
• extra features pytest-cov gives you over and above coverage.py
• and generally why using both is awesome

Links:

• coverage.py
• pytest-cov
• how to set up context reports
• Top pytest Plugins

Errata:

• I mentioned that Coverage has the ability to show context (which line is covered by which test) for the past year or so.
  • However, that feature was released in Oct 2018. coverage 5.0 alpha 
  • That's over 6 years. Oops. Sorry Ned.

Sponsored by: 

• The Complete pytest course is now a bundle, with each part available separately.
  • pytest Primary Power teaches the super powers of pytest that you need to learn to use pytest effectively.
  • Using pytest with Projects has lots of "when you need it" sections like debugging failed tests, mocking, testing strategy, and CI
  • Then pytest Booster Rockets can help with advanced parametrization and building plugins.
• Whether you need to get started with pytest today, or want to power up your pytest skills, PythonTest has a course for you.

This episode kicks off a season of pytest plugins.

In this episode:

• Introduction to pytest plugins
• The pytest.org pytest plugin list
• Finding pytest related packages on PyPI
• The Top pytest plugins list on pythontest.com
• Exploring popular plugins
• Learning from plugin examples

Links:

• Top pytest plugins list
• pytest.org plugin list
• Top PyPI Packages
• And links to plugins mentioned in the show can be found at pythontest.com/top-pytest-plugins

Sponsored by: 

• The Complete pytest course is now a bundle, with each part available separately.
  • pytest Primary Power teaches the super powers of pytest that you need to learn to use pytest effectively.
  • Using pytest with Projects has lots of "when you need it" sections like debugging failed tests, mocking, testing strategy, and CI
  • Then pytest Booster Rockets can help with advanced parametrization and building plugins.
• Whether you need to get started with pytest today, or want to power up your pytest skills, PythonTest has a course for you.

Taking notes well can help to listen better, remember things, show respect, be more accountable, free up mind space to solve problems.

This episode discusses

• the benefits of writing things down
• preparing for a meeting
• taking notes in meetings
• reviewing notes for action items, todo items, things to follow up on, etc.
• taking notes to allow for better focus
• writing well structured emails
• writing blog posts and books

Sponsored by: 

• The Complete pytest course is now a bundle, with each part available separately.
  • pytest Primary Power teaches the super powers of pytest that you need to learn to use pytest effectively.
  • Using pytest with Projects has lots of "when you need it" sections like debugging failed tests, mocking, testing strategy, and CI
  • Then pytest Booster Rockets can help with advanced parametrization and building plugins.
• Whether you need to get started with pytest today, or want to power up your pytest skills, PythonTest has a course for you.