Book Image

Practical Test-Driven Development using C# 7

By : John Callaway, Clayton Hunt
Book Image

Practical Test-Driven Development using C# 7

By: John Callaway, Clayton Hunt

Overview of this book

Test-Driven Development (TDD) is a methodology that helps you to write as little as code as possible to satisfy software requirements, and ensures that what you've written does what it's supposed to do. If you're looking for a practical resource on Test-Driven Development this is the book for you. You've found a practical end-to-end guide that will help you implement Test-Driven Techniques for your software development projects. You will learn from industry standard patterns and practices, and shift from a conventional approach to a modern and efficient software testing approach in C# and JavaScript. This book starts with the basics of TDD and the components of a simple unit test. Then we look at setting up the testing framework so that you can easily run your tests in your development environment. You will then see the importance of defining and testing boundaries, abstracting away third-party code (including the .NET Framework), and working with different types of test double such as spies, mocks, and fakes. Moving on, you will learn how to think like a TDD developer when it comes to application development. Next, you'll focus on writing tests for new/changing requirements and covering newly discovered bugs, along with how to test JavaScript applications and perform integration testing. You’ll also learn how to identify code that is inherently un-testable, and identify some of the major problems with legacy applications that weren’t written with testability in mind. By the end of the book, you’ll have all the TDD skills you'll need and you’ll be able to re-enter the world as a TDD expert!
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Title Page
Packt Upsell
Foreword
Contributors
Preface
4
What to Know Before Getting Started
Index

First, a little background


It's possible that you've had some exposure to unit tests in your career. It's highly likely that you've written a test or two. Many developers, unfortunately, haven't had the opportunity to experience the joys of Test-Driven Development.

John's story on TDD

I was first introduced to TDD about five years ago. I was interviewing for a lead developer position for a small startup. During the interview process, the CTO mentioned that the development team was practicing TDD. I informed him that I didn't have any practical TDD experience, but that I was sure I could adapt.

In all honesty, I was bit nervous. Up to that point, I had never even written a single unit test! What had I gotten myself into? An offer was extended and I accepted. Once I joined the small company I was told that, while TDD was the goal, they weren't quite there yet. Phew; crisis averted. However, I was still intrigued. It wasn't until a few months later that the team delved into the world of TDD, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Clayton's story on TDD

My introduction to TDD is a little different from John's. I have been writing code since I was in middle school in the early 1990s. From then until 2010, I always struggled with writing applications that didn't require serious architectural changes when new requirements were introduced. In 2010, I finally got fed up with the constant rewrites and began researching tools and techniques to help me with my problem. I quickly found TekPub, an e-learning site that was, at the time, owned and operated by Rob Conery. Through TekPub I began learning the SOLID principles and TDD. After banging my head against the wall for close to six months, I started to grasp what TDD was and how I could use those principles. Coupled with the SOLID principles, TDD helped me to write easy to understand code that was flexible enough to stand up to any requirements the business could throw at me. I eventually ended up at the same company where John was employed and worked with him and, as he said, the rest is history.

Note

The SOLID principles, which will be explained in detail later, are guiding principles that help produce clean, maintainable, and flexible code. They help reduce rigidity, fragility, and complexity. Generally thought of as object-oriented principles, I have found them to be applicable in all coding paradigms.