On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:45:58 am Michael Foord wrote:
I tend to think of testing as action followed by assertion - I do this and this should have happened. Your tests usually define 'expected behaviour' rather than defining how your code won't fail...
Who is the "your" that you are speaking for there? It isn't me. I tend to think of tests as *both* expected behaviour and unexpected behaviour: sometimes a test is most naturally written as "this should happen" and sometimes as "this shouldn't happen". It depends on what I'm testing. When it comes to test-driven development, I will often start by thinking "What test can I write to make this code fail?" -- not "what test can I write to make this code pass?". Having come up with a failure mode, the test is often most naturally written as "fail if" or "fail unless", and I resent having to turn the condition around into a "assert if not" test just to satisfy others who are never going to read my code. I wish people would go find another bike shed to interfere with. -- Steven