Expert Python Programming - Third Edition

unittest pitfalls

The unittest module was introduced in Python 2.1 and has been massively used by developers since then. But some alternative test frameworks were created in the community by people who were frustrated by the weaknesses and limitations of unittest.

The following are the common criticisms that are often made:

• You have to prefix the method names with test.
• You are encouraged to use assertion methods provided in TestCase instead of plain assert statements as existing methods may not cover every use case.
• The framework is hard to extend because it requires massive subclassing of classes or tricks such as decorators.
• Test fixtures are sometimes hard to organize because the setUp and tearDown facilities are tied to the TestCase ...