Test & Code

Anthony Shaw joins Brian to discuss flaky tests and flaky test suites.

Special Guest: Anthony Shaw.

Sponsored By:

• DigitalOceanGet started with a free $100 credit

Support Test & Code - Software Testing, Development, Python

Links:

• Dropbox article on flaky tests
• Microsoft article on flaky tests
• pytest-rerunfailures: a py.test plugin that re-runs failed tests up to -n times to eliminate flakey failures
• pytest-randomly: Pytest plugin to randomly order tests and control random.seed
• pytest-random-order: pytest plugin to randomise the order of tests with some control over the randomness
• math.isclose()
• numpy.isclose()
• pytest.approx() — approx
• Anthony's testing article on RealPython
• Ghost Inspector
• wily: A Python application for tracking, reporting on timing and complexity in tests

tox is a simple yet powerful tool that is used by many Python projects.

tox is not just a tool to help you test a Python project against multiple versions of Python. In this interview, Oliver and Brian just scratch the surface of this simple yet powerful automation tool.

This is from the tox documentation:

tox is a generic virtualenv management and test command line tool you can use for:

Yet tox is so much more. It can help create development environments, hold all of your admin scripts, ...

I hope you enjoy this wonderful discussion of tox with Oliver Bestwalter, one of the core maintainers of tox.

Special Guest: Oliver Bestwalter.

Links:

• tox project documentation
• tox recreate : "Have you turned it off and on again?" for tox
• "Hello world" of tox
• tox also has plugins
• talk by Bernát Gábor about a tox based workflow at EuroPython 2018
• adding a description to your environments
• detox - distributed tox
• devpi: private package index
• PyCharm plugin to easily set the project interpreter via context menu: PyVenvmanage
• power mode in atom
• Power Mode for PyCharm

tox is a simple yet powerful tool that is used by many Python projects.

tox is not just a tool to help you test a Python project against multiple versions of Python. In this interview, Oliver and Brian just scratch the surface of this simple yet powerful automation tool.

This is from the tox documentation:

tox is a generic virtualenv management and test command line tool you can use for:

Yet tox is so much more. It can help create development environments, hold all of your admin scripts, ...

I hope you enjoy this wonderful discussion of tox with Oliver Bestwalter, one of the core maintainers of tox.

Special Guest: Oliver Bestwalter.

Sponsored By:

• PyCharm ProfessionalTry PyCharm Pro for an extended 4 month trial before deciding which version you need. If you value your time, you owe it to yourself to try PyCharm. Promo Code: TESTNCODE2019

Support Test & Code - Software Testing, Development, Python

Links:

• tox project documentation
• tox recreate : "Have you turned it off and on again?" for tox
• "Hello world" of tox
• tox also has plugins
• talk by Bernát Gábor about a tox based workflow at EuroPython 2018
• adding a description to your environments
• detox - distributed tox
• devpi: private package index
• PyCharm plugin to easily set the project interpreter via context menu: PyVenvmanage
• power mode in atom
• Power Mode for PyCharm

The story of how I came to find a good user interface for running and debugging automated tests is interleaved with a multi-year effort of mine to have a test workflow that’s works smoothly with product development and actually speeds things up. It’s also interleaved with the origins of the blog pythontesting.net, this podcast, and the pytest book I wrote with Pragmatic.

It’s not a long story. And it has a happy ending. Well. It’s not over. But I’m happy with where we are now. I’m also hoping that this tale of my dedication to, or obsession with, quality and developer efficiency helps you in your own efforts to make your daily workflow better and to extend that to try to increase the efficiency of those you work with.

Links:

• pythontesting.net

The story of how I came to find a good user interface for running and debugging automated tests is interleaved with a multi-year effort of mine to have a test workflow that’s works smoothly with product development and actually speeds things up. It’s also interleaved with the origins of the blog pythontesting.net, this podcast, and the pytest book I wrote with Pragmatic.

It’s not a long story. And it has a happy ending. Well. It’s not over. But I’m happy with where we are now. I’m also hoping that this tale of my dedication to, or obsession with, quality and developer efficiency helps you in your own efforts to make your daily workflow better and to extend that to try to increase the efficiency of those you work with.

Sponsored By:

• Python Testing with pytestSimple, Rapid, Effective, and Scalable

Support Test & Code - Software Testing, Development, Python

Links:

• pythontesting.net

Interview with Andy Knight, the Automation Panda.

Special Guest: Andy Knight.

Links:

• Automation Panda | A blog for software development and testing
• Karate REST API test framework
• BDD | Automation Panda
• Testing | Automation Panda
• The pytest Book

Interview with Andy Knight, the Automation Panda.

Special Guest: Andy Knight.

Sponsored By:

• PyCharm ProfessionalTry PyCharm Pro for an extended 4 month trial before deciding which version you need. If you value your time, you owe it to yourself to try PyCharm. Promo Code: TESTNCODE2019

Support Test & Code - Software Testing, Development, Python

Links:

• Automation Panda | A blog for software development and testing
• Karate REST API test framework
• BDD | Automation Panda
• Testing | Automation Panda
• The pytest Book

How do you write tests for things that aren’t that easy to write tests for?

That question is a possibly terrible summary of a question sent to me by a listener. And to help me start answering that question, I asked a friend of mine to help, Antony Shaw.

Of course, different types of applications have different test strategies, so there’s not a universal answer. But I know some of you out there have experience and expertise around how to tackle this problem.

Listen to the discussion Anthony and I have about it, and let me know if you have some techniques or tips to add.

Special Guest: Anthony Shaw.

How do you write tests for things that aren’t that easy to write tests for?

That question is a possibly terrible summary of a question sent to me by a listener. And to help me start answering that question, I asked a friend of mine to help, Antony Shaw.

Of course, different types of applications have different test strategies, so there’s not a universal answer. But I know some of you out there have experience and expertise around how to tackle this problem.

Listen to the discussion Anthony and I have about it, and let me know if you have some techniques or tips to add.

Special Guest: Anthony Shaw.

Sponsored By:

• Patreon SupportersHelp support the show with as little as $1 per month.

Support Test & Code - Software Testing, Development, Python

David Heinemeier Hansson is the creator of Ruby on Rails, founder & CTO at Basecamp (formerly 37signals). He's a best selling author, public speaker, and even a Le Mans class winning racing driver.

All of that, of course, is awesome. But that's not why I asked him on the show. In 2014, during a RailsConf keynote, he started a discussion about damage caused by TDD. This was followed by a few blog posts, and then a series of recorded hangouts with Martin Fowler and Kent Beck. This is what I wanted to talk with David about; this unconventional yet practical and intuitive view of how testing and development work together.

It's a great discussion. I think you'll get a lot out of it.

Special Guest: David Heinemeier Hansson.

Links:

• Is TDD dead? - Part 1
• My reaction to "Is TDD Dead?", including links to the other parts of the video series
• RailsConf 2014 - Keynote: Writing Software by David Heinemeier Hansson - YouTube
• TDD is dead. Long live testing. (DHH)
• Test-induced design damage (DHH)
• Slow database test fallacy (DHH)