[Python-ideas] Add links in manual to test_modules.

[Steven D'Aprano]

Nick Coghlan wrote:
> Ick, no.
> 
> We do all sorts of dodgy stuff in our test suite to stress
> implementations, probe obscure corner cases, double up on checks based
> on where and when bugs happened to be reported. Large parts of it are
> written to make the tests easier to write, not because they reflect
> any kind of idiomatic code, or good ways of doing things in a real
> application.

But surely a test suite counts as a real application? It's likely to be 
bigger than the "actual" application or library, it still needs to be 
maintained, and is more likely to have bugs (on account of there being 
no test suite for the tests).

Speaking for myself, I find code reuse and design of my test suites to 
be one of the harder parts of writing code. Perhaps I'd learn something 
from the Python tests, even if only "everyone has trouble writing good 
unit-tests" *wink*

As I see it, the main benefit of Terry's suggestion is that it may 
encourage developers to write new tests for the standard library, or to 
refactor the existing tests. +0.5 from me.


-- 
Steven