Backend Unit Testing

Need of Unit Testing in Backend

Proper unit testing is done in the early development stages, saves time, and is more cost-efficient.

Mentioned below are the key reasons why Backend Unit Testing is used in Software Engineering,

1. Unit tests help identify and solve bugs early in the development phase and cut costs.
2. It aids the developers in understanding the testing codebase better and enables them to make changes quickly and efficiently.
3. Good unit tests serve as project documentation.
4. Unit tests help with code reuse. It also helps in migrating our code and tests to a new project. 

Types of Unit Testing 

Now we will see how to do unit testing where developers write a section of code for testing a specific function in the software application. To test the operation more rigorously, developers can isolate this function by identifying and eliminating unnecessary dependencies between the tested process and other existing elements.

There are two types of unit testing-

• Manual unit testing
• Automated unit testing 

Commonly the unit testing type is an automated approach but may still be carried out manually. one over the other is not preferred in software engineering. However, automation is favoured. A manual approach to unit testing employs a step-by-step instructional document.

Automated Approach-

• Under the automated Approach, a code section in the application is written by a developer to test the function. The test code can be removed or commented out later when software is deployed.
• To test the operation more rigorously, developers can isolate this function furthermore, identify and eliminate unnecessary dependencies between the tested process and other existing elements. The Automated Approach includes copying and pasting code to its testing environment rather than its natural environment, resulting in a more thorough unit testing approach.
• A coder generally uses UnitTest Framework for generating automated test cases. Verifying the correctness of the code can be done by using an automation framework and the developer codes criteria into the test. These frameworks do logging of the failing test cases during their execution. The framework may cease subsequent testing depending on the severity of the failure.
• The Unit Testing process is as follows: 1- Create Test Cases 2- Review/Rework 3- Baseline 4- Execute Test Cases.

Advantages 

• Through this testing method, developers learn about a particular software unit and its functionality by looking at the unit test to better understand any unit.
• The test cases are developed for all the functions and methods in this testing method. In the future, it becomes easier for a programmer to refactor the code later when any changes are made, which provides bugs that can be identified and fixed quickly.
• Another advantage of this testing is that we can test any software unit without completing the other.

Disadvantages

Let's discuss a few of the disadvantages of opting for Backend Unit testing in Software Engineering,

• As we have already discussed, unit testing focuses on an individual unit. Thus, it cannot detect errors in the application as one integrated project.
• Even in the most trivial programs, it is next to impossible to evaluate all the code execution paths. Thus, we cannot expect Unit Testing to detect all the code or application errors.

Because of the reasons mentioned above, We never use Backend Unit Testing as stand-alone testing, and we always prefer pairing it with other testing mechanisms.

FAQs

1. What are the different unit testing tools?

• JUnit is a free tool for unit testing for java programming. This tool does the testing first; then, it integrates into the piece of code.
• NUnit is the widely used framework for unit testing, and all .net languages use this. It is also open-source furthermore allows writing scripts manually. The test can also run parallel here.

And we have JMockit, EMMA, and PHPUnit.
 

2. Describe some unit testing best practices?

• Test cases of unit testing should be independent.
• Only one code should be tested at once.
• Naming conventions of unit testing should be clear and consistent.

Key Takeaways

This Blog covered all the necessary points about Backend Unit testing of any application, discussing in-depth its functionality and methods of the appliance. We further examined the challenges faced and why it is necessary.

Recommended Readings:

• Sanity Testing vs Smoke Testing
   

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