What is Unit Testing? Importance & Best Practices - ACCELQ
1010 words •
00:00
If you were to prioritize different automated testing initiatives, unit testing would be in the top five spots. It is a central component of modern digital application QA initiatives. Unit testing ensures granular stability and resilience for any large digital application by validating the performance of its component modules.
However, over the years, software testing teams have adopted several different approaches. The diversity in approaches may prove to be confusing and challenging for enterprises when they decide on a unit testing strategy today.
Hence, it is important to know in detail about the best practices for unit testing in detail. But before going into the best practices, it is important to have a clear understanding of itself and ensure that all stakeholders within the enterprise are on the same page while discussing and agreeing upon the best practices.
What is Unit Testing?
In simple terms, unit testing refers to the testing of modular or functional units of a larger software application, done in isolation from other modules.
It tests the resilience, performance, and capacity of individual functional units in real-life conditions. The primary aim of unit testing is to ensure that their actual behavior aligns with their expected behavior.
QA teams conduct this testing without connecting the module to other external entities like databases, libraries, and file systems. In other words, each module is considered a small program that can run on its own and exhibits a diverse set of behavior for every operational scenario. With unit testing, developers get a clear idea of how their individual code blocks perform. It allows them to make quick adjustments in the event of any unexpected behavior.
Why is Unit Testing Important?
As the digital economy expands, the traditional focus on software testing and quality assurance is no longer an acceptable standard for enabling the best customer experience.
Every strategic approach in software testing needs to be given its due share of importance and allocated resources, both manpower, and tools, to facilitate seamless execution. While many leaders may stress giving more priority to areas like acceptance testing, the reality is that every test approach deserves a special focus as any let-downs may impact overall application quality.
Since more businesses are opt for cloud-based microservices architecture for their applications, there is an increased focus on the granular stability of the application. Testing cloud-based apps with microservices architecture are important, and unit testing finds a very crucial role in this regard.
With unit testing, developers can have more control over their individual code block quality before integrating different components and then sent for regression testing. Also, it is easier to identify and rectify mistakes or defects at the code level. This helps enterprises save costs significantly when compared to discovering defects later in the development cycle.
What Are the Best Practices for ServiceNow Test Management?
Now that you have a clear idea of what is unit testing and why enterprises need to focus on implementation, it is time to learn about the best practices.
We have outlined six major best practices for unit testing that will guarantee better results and ensure profitable and sustainable testing coverage for your application development projects.
Create reliable and clear unit tests
The first step to building a great unit testing practice is to write reliable unit tests. The test suite must be able to report the unexpected or suspicious behavior observed during testing. It should not be considered to simply report the stage at which the these test succeeds in delivering an expected output or outcome.
Mandate automation in unit testing
Manual bias may often create unsatisfactory test results. It can lead to future complications if defects detection isn’t in the early stages. It is important to mandate automated testing strategies in your technology operations to prevent this situation. Automated unit testing delivers faster feedback and provides significantly higher code coverage and controlled parallel processing of test cases. It allows test engineers to work more efficiently with less time.
Prioritize attention to use cases
One of the critical aims of unit testing is to ensure that the code is easily maintainable. Moreover, ensure that new developers can understand it without any issues. By focusing on a single use case at a time and prioritizing the rest in sequence, it is easier to validate outcomes against expected results.
Speed up tests with better isolation
You should carry out Unit tests should in isolation without depending on other tests and mocking external dependencies. Making them simpler and independent modules can help in faster code coverage. Automation can boost it further. All these measures help to speed up the test activity. This is a critical factor that makes unit testing more appealing for developers. If it consume too much time, it will be tough to convince developers to wait long to push their code into the next stage.
Integrate unit testing into the build process
While developers following a Test Driven Development (TDD) model will provide sufficient coverage for unit testing, it is always best to make it a part of the build process for additional safety. While going in for end-to-end test automation,the build process will ensure that all unit tests are executed. And will also notify the respective stakeholders about any failure when any test fails.
Follow distinguishable and simple test nomenclature
Test activities are also a stage for documentation of process workflows. If every unit test is named in a standard convention that explains the scenario being tested, it will be easier to document. The further use of these cases across the organization when different stakeholders are trained on applications also becomes easy. The naming convention also enables better identification of defect causes for other test approaches like integration testing, acceptance testing, etc.
Conclusion
Unit testing will be a critical component of modern application quality assurance initiatives. Facilitating a seamless execution of unit testing is what many enterprises will find hard to achieve. This is where automation of test activities can be a lifesaver.
Book a demo to know how ACCELQ can help you automate your end-to-end test initiatives.
However, over the years, software testing teams have adopted several different approaches. The diversity in approaches may prove to be confusing and challenging for enterprises when they decide on a unit testing strategy today.
Hence, it is important to know in detail about the best practices for unit testing in detail. But before going into the best practices, it is important to have a clear understanding of itself and ensure that all stakeholders within the enterprise are on the same page while discussing and agreeing upon the best practices.
What is Unit Testing?
In simple terms, unit testing refers to the testing of modular or functional units of a larger software application, done in isolation from other modules.
It tests the resilience, performance, and capacity of individual functional units in real-life conditions. The primary aim of unit testing is to ensure that their actual behavior aligns with their expected behavior.
QA teams conduct this testing without connecting the module to other external entities like databases, libraries, and file systems. In other words, each module is considered a small program that can run on its own and exhibits a diverse set of behavior for every operational scenario. With unit testing, developers get a clear idea of how their individual code blocks perform. It allows them to make quick adjustments in the event of any unexpected behavior.
Why is Unit Testing Important?
As the digital economy expands, the traditional focus on software testing and quality assurance is no longer an acceptable standard for enabling the best customer experience.
Every strategic approach in software testing needs to be given its due share of importance and allocated resources, both manpower, and tools, to facilitate seamless execution. While many leaders may stress giving more priority to areas like acceptance testing, the reality is that every test approach deserves a special focus as any let-downs may impact overall application quality.
Since more businesses are opt for cloud-based microservices architecture for their applications, there is an increased focus on the granular stability of the application. Testing cloud-based apps with microservices architecture are important, and unit testing finds a very crucial role in this regard.
With unit testing, developers can have more control over their individual code block quality before integrating different components and then sent for regression testing. Also, it is easier to identify and rectify mistakes or defects at the code level. This helps enterprises save costs significantly when compared to discovering defects later in the development cycle.
What Are the Best Practices for ServiceNow Test Management?
Now that you have a clear idea of what is unit testing and why enterprises need to focus on implementation, it is time to learn about the best practices.
We have outlined six major best practices for unit testing that will guarantee better results and ensure profitable and sustainable testing coverage for your application development projects.
Create reliable and clear unit tests
The first step to building a great unit testing practice is to write reliable unit tests. The test suite must be able to report the unexpected or suspicious behavior observed during testing. It should not be considered to simply report the stage at which the these test succeeds in delivering an expected output or outcome.
Mandate automation in unit testing
Manual bias may often create unsatisfactory test results. It can lead to future complications if defects detection isn’t in the early stages. It is important to mandate automated testing strategies in your technology operations to prevent this situation. Automated unit testing delivers faster feedback and provides significantly higher code coverage and controlled parallel processing of test cases. It allows test engineers to work more efficiently with less time.
Prioritize attention to use cases
One of the critical aims of unit testing is to ensure that the code is easily maintainable. Moreover, ensure that new developers can understand it without any issues. By focusing on a single use case at a time and prioritizing the rest in sequence, it is easier to validate outcomes against expected results.
Speed up tests with better isolation
You should carry out Unit tests should in isolation without depending on other tests and mocking external dependencies. Making them simpler and independent modules can help in faster code coverage. Automation can boost it further. All these measures help to speed up the test activity. This is a critical factor that makes unit testing more appealing for developers. If it consume too much time, it will be tough to convince developers to wait long to push their code into the next stage.
Integrate unit testing into the build process
While developers following a Test Driven Development (TDD) model will provide sufficient coverage for unit testing, it is always best to make it a part of the build process for additional safety. While going in for end-to-end test automation,the build process will ensure that all unit tests are executed. And will also notify the respective stakeholders about any failure when any test fails.
Follow distinguishable and simple test nomenclature
Test activities are also a stage for documentation of process workflows. If every unit test is named in a standard convention that explains the scenario being tested, it will be easier to document. The further use of these cases across the organization when different stakeholders are trained on applications also becomes easy. The naming convention also enables better identification of defect causes for other test approaches like integration testing, acceptance testing, etc.
Conclusion
Unit testing will be a critical component of modern application quality assurance initiatives. Facilitating a seamless execution of unit testing is what many enterprises will find hard to achieve. This is where automation of test activities can be a lifesaver.
Book a demo to know how ACCELQ can help you automate your end-to-end test initiatives.
How to have constructive conversations
1384 words •
00:00
Three planes, 25 hours, 10,000 miles. My dad gets off a flight from Australia with one thing in mind and it's not a snack or a shower or a nap. It's November 2016 and Dad is here to talk to Americans about the election. Now, Dad's a news fiend, but for him, this is not just red or blue, swing states or party platforms. He has some really specific intentions. He wants to listen, be heard and understand.
00:35
And over two weeks, he has hundreds of conversations with Americans from New Hampshire to Miami. Some of them are tough conversations, complete differences of opinions, wildly different worldviews, radically opposite life experiences. But in all of those interactions, Dad walks away with a big smile on his face and so does the other person. You can see one of them here. And in those interactions, he's having a version of what it seems like we have less of, but want more of -- a constructive conversation.
01:13
We have more ways than ever to connect. And yet, politically, ideologically, it feels like we are further and further apart. We tell pollsters that we want politicians who are open-minded. And yet when they change their point of view, we say that they lacked conviction. For us, when we're confronted with information that challenges an existing worldview, our tendency is not to open up, it's to double down. We even have a term for it in social psychology. It's called belief perseverance. And boy, do some people's beliefs seem to persevere.
01:53
I'm no stranger to tough conversations. I got my start in what I now call productive disagreement in high school debate. I even went on to win the World Schools Debate Championship three times. I've been in a lot of arguments, is what I'm saying, but it took watching my dad on the streets of the US to understand that we need to figure out how we go into conversations. Not looking for the victory, but the progress.
02:22
And so since November 2016, that's what I've been doing. Working with governments, foundations, corporations, families, to uncover the tools and techniques that allow us to talk when it feels like the divide is unbridgeable. And constructive conversations that really move the dialogue forward have these same three essential features.
02:46
First, at least one party in the conversation is willing to choose curiosity over clash. They're open to the idea that the discussion is a climbing wall, not a cage fight, that they'll make progress over time and are able to anchor all of that in purpose of the discussion. For someone trained in formal debate, it is so tempting to run headlong at the disagreement. In fact, we call that clash and in formal argumentation, it's a punishable offense if there's not enough of it. But I've noticed, you've probably noticed, too, that in real life that tends to make people shut down, not just from the conversation, but even from the relationship. It's actually one of the causes of unfriending, online and off.
03:43
So instead, you might consider a technique made popular by the Hollywood producer Brian Grazer, the curiosity conversation. And the whole point of a curiosity conversation is to understand the other person's perspective, to see what's on their side of the fence. And so the next time that someone says something you instinctively disagree with, that you react violently to, you only need one sentence and one question: “I never thought about it exactly that way before. What can you share that would help me see what you see?” What's remarkable about curiosity conversations is that the people you are curious about tend to become curious about you. Whether it's a friendly Australian gentleman, a political foe or a corporate rival, they begin to wonder what it is that you see and whether they could see it to.
04:46
Constructive conversations aren't a one-shot deal. If you go into an encounter expecting everyone to walk out with the same point of view that you walked in with, there's really no chance for progress. Instead, we need to think about conversations as a climbing wall to do a variant of what my dad did during this trip, pocketing a little nugget of information here, adapting his approach there. That's actually a technique borrowed from formal debate where you present an idea, it's attacked and you adapt and re-explain, it's attacked again, you adapt and re-explain. The whole expectation is that your idea gets better through challenge and criticism.
05:35
And the evidence from really high-stakes international negotiations suggests that that's what successful negotiators do as well. They go into conversations expecting to learn from the challenges that they will receive to use objections to make their ideas and proposals better. Development is in some way a service that we can do for others and that others can do for us. It makes the ideas sharper, but the relationships warmer. Curiosity can be relationship magic and development can be rocket fuel for your ideas.
06:16
But there are some situations where it just feels like it's not worth the bother. And in those cases it can be because the purpose of the discussion isn't clear. I think back to how my dad went into those conversations with a really clear sense of purpose. He was there to learn, to listen, to share his point of view. And once that purpose is understood by both parties, then you can begin to move on. Lay out our vision for the future. Make a decision. Get funding. Then you can move on to principles.
06:56
When people shared with my dad their hopes for America, that's where they started with the big picture, not with personality or politics or policies. Because inadvertently they were doing something that we do naturally with outsiders and find it really difficult sometimes to do with insiders. They painted in broad strokes before digging into the details.
07:28
But maybe you live in the same zip code or the same house and it feels like none of that common ground is there today. Then you might consider a version of disagreement time travel, asking your counterpart to articulate what kind of neighborhood, country, world, community, they want a year from now, a decade from now. It is very tempting to dwell in present tensions and get bogged down in practicalities. Inviting people to inhabit a future possibility opens up the chance of a conversation with purpose.
08:10
Earlier in my career, I worked for the deputy prime minister of New Zealand who practiced a version of this technique. New Zealand's electoral system is designed for unlikely friendships, coalitions, alliances, memoranda of understanding are almost inevitable. And this particular government set-up had some of almost everything -- small government conservatives, liberals, the Indigenous people's party, the Green Party. And I recently asked him, what does it take to bring a group like that together but hold them together? He said, "Someone, you, has to take responsibility for reminding them of their shared purpose: caring for people.” If we are more focused on what makes us different than the same, then every debate is a fight. If we put our challenges and our problems before us, then every potential ally becomes an adversary.
09:15
But as my dad packed his bags for the three flights, 25 hours, 10,000 miles back to Australia, he was also packing a collection of new perspectives, a new way of navigating conversations, and a whole set of new stories and experiences to share. But he was also leaving those behind with everyone that he'd interacted with. We love unlikely friendships when they look like this. We've just forgotten how to make them. And amid the cacophony of cable news and the awkwardness of family dinners, and the hostility of corporate meetings, each of us has this -- the opportunity to walk into every encounter, like my dad walked off that plane, to choose curiosity over clash, to expect development of your ideas through discussion and to anchor in common purpose. That's what really world-class persuaders do to build constructive conversations and move them forward. It's how our world will move forward too.
10:28
Thank you.
00:35
And over two weeks, he has hundreds of conversations with Americans from New Hampshire to Miami. Some of them are tough conversations, complete differences of opinions, wildly different worldviews, radically opposite life experiences. But in all of those interactions, Dad walks away with a big smile on his face and so does the other person. You can see one of them here. And in those interactions, he's having a version of what it seems like we have less of, but want more of -- a constructive conversation.
01:13
We have more ways than ever to connect. And yet, politically, ideologically, it feels like we are further and further apart. We tell pollsters that we want politicians who are open-minded. And yet when they change their point of view, we say that they lacked conviction. For us, when we're confronted with information that challenges an existing worldview, our tendency is not to open up, it's to double down. We even have a term for it in social psychology. It's called belief perseverance. And boy, do some people's beliefs seem to persevere.
01:53
I'm no stranger to tough conversations. I got my start in what I now call productive disagreement in high school debate. I even went on to win the World Schools Debate Championship three times. I've been in a lot of arguments, is what I'm saying, but it took watching my dad on the streets of the US to understand that we need to figure out how we go into conversations. Not looking for the victory, but the progress.
02:22
And so since November 2016, that's what I've been doing. Working with governments, foundations, corporations, families, to uncover the tools and techniques that allow us to talk when it feels like the divide is unbridgeable. And constructive conversations that really move the dialogue forward have these same three essential features.
02:46
First, at least one party in the conversation is willing to choose curiosity over clash. They're open to the idea that the discussion is a climbing wall, not a cage fight, that they'll make progress over time and are able to anchor all of that in purpose of the discussion. For someone trained in formal debate, it is so tempting to run headlong at the disagreement. In fact, we call that clash and in formal argumentation, it's a punishable offense if there's not enough of it. But I've noticed, you've probably noticed, too, that in real life that tends to make people shut down, not just from the conversation, but even from the relationship. It's actually one of the causes of unfriending, online and off.
03:43
So instead, you might consider a technique made popular by the Hollywood producer Brian Grazer, the curiosity conversation. And the whole point of a curiosity conversation is to understand the other person's perspective, to see what's on their side of the fence. And so the next time that someone says something you instinctively disagree with, that you react violently to, you only need one sentence and one question: “I never thought about it exactly that way before. What can you share that would help me see what you see?” What's remarkable about curiosity conversations is that the people you are curious about tend to become curious about you. Whether it's a friendly Australian gentleman, a political foe or a corporate rival, they begin to wonder what it is that you see and whether they could see it to.
04:46
Constructive conversations aren't a one-shot deal. If you go into an encounter expecting everyone to walk out with the same point of view that you walked in with, there's really no chance for progress. Instead, we need to think about conversations as a climbing wall to do a variant of what my dad did during this trip, pocketing a little nugget of information here, adapting his approach there. That's actually a technique borrowed from formal debate where you present an idea, it's attacked and you adapt and re-explain, it's attacked again, you adapt and re-explain. The whole expectation is that your idea gets better through challenge and criticism.
05:35
And the evidence from really high-stakes international negotiations suggests that that's what successful negotiators do as well. They go into conversations expecting to learn from the challenges that they will receive to use objections to make their ideas and proposals better. Development is in some way a service that we can do for others and that others can do for us. It makes the ideas sharper, but the relationships warmer. Curiosity can be relationship magic and development can be rocket fuel for your ideas.
06:16
But there are some situations where it just feels like it's not worth the bother. And in those cases it can be because the purpose of the discussion isn't clear. I think back to how my dad went into those conversations with a really clear sense of purpose. He was there to learn, to listen, to share his point of view. And once that purpose is understood by both parties, then you can begin to move on. Lay out our vision for the future. Make a decision. Get funding. Then you can move on to principles.
06:56
When people shared with my dad their hopes for America, that's where they started with the big picture, not with personality or politics or policies. Because inadvertently they were doing something that we do naturally with outsiders and find it really difficult sometimes to do with insiders. They painted in broad strokes before digging into the details.
07:28
But maybe you live in the same zip code or the same house and it feels like none of that common ground is there today. Then you might consider a version of disagreement time travel, asking your counterpart to articulate what kind of neighborhood, country, world, community, they want a year from now, a decade from now. It is very tempting to dwell in present tensions and get bogged down in practicalities. Inviting people to inhabit a future possibility opens up the chance of a conversation with purpose.
08:10
Earlier in my career, I worked for the deputy prime minister of New Zealand who practiced a version of this technique. New Zealand's electoral system is designed for unlikely friendships, coalitions, alliances, memoranda of understanding are almost inevitable. And this particular government set-up had some of almost everything -- small government conservatives, liberals, the Indigenous people's party, the Green Party. And I recently asked him, what does it take to bring a group like that together but hold them together? He said, "Someone, you, has to take responsibility for reminding them of their shared purpose: caring for people.” If we are more focused on what makes us different than the same, then every debate is a fight. If we put our challenges and our problems before us, then every potential ally becomes an adversary.
09:15
But as my dad packed his bags for the three flights, 25 hours, 10,000 miles back to Australia, he was also packing a collection of new perspectives, a new way of navigating conversations, and a whole set of new stories and experiences to share. But he was also leaving those behind with everyone that he'd interacted with. We love unlikely friendships when they look like this. We've just forgotten how to make them. And amid the cacophony of cable news and the awkwardness of family dinners, and the hostility of corporate meetings, each of us has this -- the opportunity to walk into every encounter, like my dad walked off that plane, to choose curiosity over clash, to expect development of your ideas through discussion and to anchor in common purpose. That's what really world-class persuaders do to build constructive conversations and move them forward. It's how our world will move forward too.
10:28
Thank you.