Book Image

Mastering React Test-Driven Development

By : Daniel Irvine
Book Image

Mastering React Test-Driven Development

By: Daniel Irvine

Overview of this book

Many programmers are aware of TDD but struggle to apply it beyond basic examples. This book teaches how to build complex, real-world applications using Test-Driven Development (TDD). It takes a first principles approach to the TDD process using plain Jest and includes test-driving the integration of libraries including React Router, Redux, and Relay (GraphQL). Readers will practice systematic refactoring while building out their own test framework, gaining a deep understanding of TDD tools and techniques. They will learn how to test-drive features such as client- and server-side form validation, data filtering and searching, navigation and user workflow, undo/redo, animation, LocalStorage access, WebSocket communication, and querying GraphQL endpoints. The book covers refactoring codebases to use the React Router and Redux libraries. via TDD. Redux is explored in depth, with reducers, middleware, sagas, and connected React components. The book also covers acceptance testing using Cucumber and Puppeteer. The book is fully up to date with React 16.9 and has in-depth coverage of hooks and the ‘act’ test helper.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Section 1: First Principles of TDD
6
Section 2: Building a Single-Page Application
12
Section 3: Interactivity
16
Section 4: Acceptance Testing with BDD

Not testing at all

There is a belief that TDD doesn't apply to some scenarios in which it clearly does – for example, if your code is 'throwaway' (whatever that means), or if it's presumed to never need modification once it's deployed. Believing this, is almost ensuring the opposite to be true. Code, particularly code without tests, has a habit of living on beyond its intended lifespan.

In addition to reducing the fear of changing code, tests also reduce the fear of removing code. Without tests, you'll read some code and think "maybe something uses this code for some purpose I don't quite remember...". With tests in place, this won't be a concern. You'll read the test, see that the test no longer applies due to a changed requirement, and then delete the test and its corresponding production code.

However, there are...