Learn to write high-quality unit tests for your codebase for free online.

When learning how to code, you will often come across bugs in your code that you haven’t anticipated.

These bugs can be frustrating to fix especially if you’re a code newbie.

However, what most tutorials may not tell you is that there is a way to anticipate and reduce the likelihood of buggy code beforehand - the answer is unit testing.

What is Unit Testing?

In simple terms, unit testing is a software testing technique where individual units or components of code are tested in isolation to ensure they are working as intended. It is a crucial step in the software development process as it helps developers identify and fix bugs early on, saving time and resources down the line.

You can think of unit testing as being like a vaccine for your code. Just as a vaccine helps your body build immunity to diseases, unit testing helps your code build immunity to bugs. It may sting a little at first, but the long-term benefits are undeniable: faster development, fewer bugs, and greater confidence in your code.

Why is Unit Testing Important?

Unit testing is especially important for new developers as it allows you to catch errors quickly and gain confidence in your code. With the help of online resources and tools, you can learn to write high-quality unit tests that make your code more reliable and easier to maintain.

The benefits of learning to write Unit Tests

Learning to write unit tests can provide several benefits, including:

1. Improved code quality - Writing unit tests forces developers to write cleaner, more modular, and more maintainable code.

2. Early bug detection - Unit testing catches bugs early in the development process, which reduces the cost of fixing them.

3. Faster development - Writing unit tests helps developers identify and resolve issues quickly, leading to faster development times.

4. Increased confidence - Unit tests provide developers with the confidence to make changes and refactor code, knowing that they won't break existing functionality.

5. Better collaboration - Unit tests provide a shared understanding of the codebase between developers, QA engineers, and other stakeholders, which leads to better collaboration and communication.

How to Write Unit Tests?

In this article, we’ll take a look at five handy websites to learn how to write unit tests for free online.

These websites will provide step-by-step guides for writing unit tests and include the tools you can use in your codebase for writing and running your tests.

By following the guides on these websites, you’ll be fully equipped to get started with writing robust unit tests for your applications.

Now let’s see what we’ve got!

#1 - Stackify

This article by Erik Dietrich on Stackify explores the fundamentals of unit testing for developers who are new to the practice. Dietrich starts by distinguishing between what does and does not qualify as a unit test, providing examples of tests that fall under other categories. He then explains that unit tests isolate and exercise specific units of code, such as methods in C#. The article focuses on the basics of unit testing and does not delve into related topics such as test-driven development or testing frameworks.

#2 - Microsoft Visual Studio

This article provides an introduction to unit testing with Visual Studio, explaining the benefits of creating and running unit tests to ensure that code functions as expected. It outlines the basics of unit testing, including breaking down program functionality into testable units, using testing frameworks to create and run tests, and automatically detecting tests affected by changes in code. The article also touches on test-driven development, running third-party test frameworks, and generating test projects and test methods from code using IntelliTest.

#3 - Guru99

This article by Thomas Hamilton on Guru99 provides a comprehensive tutorial on Unit Testing. The article covers the basics of Unit Testing, including its definition, purpose, and types. Additionally, it explains why Unit Testing is important, how to perform it, and provides an example of how to use mock objects for Unit Testing. The article also delves into Unit Testing tools, Test Driven Development (TDD), and the advantages and disadvantages of Unit Testing. Finally, the article provides best practices for Unit Testing.

#4 - Toptal

This article from Toptal explains why testable code is important and discusses the problems that complicate unit testing. The author, Sergey Kolodiy, explains that unit testing itself is easy, but poorly-designed and untestable code makes it difficult to write effective unit tests. The article provides guidance on how to improve testability and avoid anti-patterns and bad practices that can introduce complexity. The ultimate goal is to make the code more robust and easier to maintain. The article is intended to be a unit testing tutorial that will benefit any serious software developer looking to improve their skills.

#5 - JanBask Training

This article from JanBask Training aims to provide developers with tips and best practices for writing testable unit cases, which are essential for producing high-quality software. The article will cover topics such as the definition of unit testing, the difference between unit and integration testing, the benefits of unit testing, unit testing tools and techniques, test-driven development (TDD), common myths about unit testing, and best practices for effective unit testing. The article also suggests joining a professional QA Testing Course to gain a deeper understanding of the subject and become job-ready.

Other Resources

Once you understand the fundamentals, the next step would be to start writing your own unit tests. Luckily there is a wide range of testing frameworks you can use depending on your chosen language.

Here are a few unit testing framework resources you can try:

• JavaScript: Jest, Mocha, Jasmine
• Python: Robot, PyTest, Unittest
• Java: Selenium, JUnit, TestNG
• Ruby: Rspec, Capybara, test-unit
• C#: - MSTest, NUnit, xUnit.NET

In conclusion, unit testing is a crucial aspect of software development that helps ensure that each component of the code performs as expected. In this article, we have looked at five handy websites to learn how to write unit tests.

By following best practices for unit testing and using the right tools and techniques given in the above resources, you can create more robust and maintainable code.

Now go test to make your code the best!

From your fellow ever-growing dev,

Cherlock Code

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