Quality Code: Software Testing Principles, Practices, and Patterns

Chapter 6. The Basics

One of the hardest things about testing is sometimes just knowing where to start. This chapter focuses on just that. Starting with a class, we look at how you can provide a solid foundation for testing the rest of the functionality of the class.

Then we delve into some of the basic tools that can be used directly and are often used in more sophisticated testing scenarios. We examine structured ways to expose your hidden values and touch on topics that will be expanded in later chapters.

Along the way, we look at some of the variations available in the use of testing framework features. We also incorporate some of the test patterns from Meszaros’s xUnit Test Patterns [xTP].