Book Image

Test-Driven Java Development, Second Edition - Second Edition

By : Viktor Farcic, Alex Garcia
Book Image

Test-Driven Java Development, Second Edition - Second Edition

By: Viktor Farcic, Alex Garcia

Overview of this book

Test-driven development (TDD) is a development approach that relies on a test-first procedure that emphasizes writing a test before writing the necessary code, and then refactoring the code to optimize it.The value of performing TDD with Java, one of the longest established programming languages, is to improve the productivity of programmers and the maintainability and performance of code, and develop a deeper understanding of the language and how to employ it effectively. Starting with the basics of TDD and understanding why its adoption is beneficial, this book will take you from the first steps of TDD with Java until you are confident enough to embrace the practice in your day-to-day routine.You'll be guided through setting up tools, frameworks, and the environment you need, and we will dive right into hands-on exercises with the goal of mastering one practice, tool, or framework at a time. You'll learn about the Red-Green-Refactor procedure, how to write unit tests, and how to use them as executable documentation.With this book, you'll also discover how to design simple and easily maintainable code, work with mocks, utilize behavior-driven development, refactor old legacy code, and release a half-finished feature to production with feature toggles.You will finish this book with a deep understanding of the test-driven development methodology and the confidence to apply it to application programming with Java.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Title Page
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
9
Refactoring Legacy Code – Making It Young Again
Index

Chapter 4. Unit Testing – Focusing on What You Do and Not on What Has Been Done

"To create something exceptional, your mindset must be relentlessly focused on the smallest detail."

– Giorgio Armani

As promised, each chapter will explore a different Java testing framework and this one is no exception. We'll use TestNG to build our specifications.

In the previous Chapter 3Red-Green-Refactor – From Failure Through Success until Perfection, we practiced the Red-Green-Refactor procedure. We used unit tests without going deeper into how unit testing works in the context of TDD. We'll build on the knowledge from the last chapter and go into more detail by trying to explain what unit tests really are and how they fit into the TDD approach to building software.

The goal of this chapter is to learn how to focus on the unit we're currently working on and how to ignore or isolate those that were done before.

Once we're comfortable with TestNG and unit testing, we'll dive right into the requirements of...