Table of contents
1.
Introduction
2.
Types of Unit Testing
3.
What is JUnit?
4.
Need for JUnit Testing?
5.
Features of JUnit
6.
JUnit Annotations
7.
Frequently Asked Questions
7.1.
What is JUnit?
7.2.
Why is JUnit needed?
7.3.
What are JUnit Annotations?
7.4.
Which type of Unit testing is best overall?
7.5.
What does Testing first then coding mean?
8.
Conclusion
Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024

JUnit Introduction and Features

Author Parth Jain
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Introduction

When an application is under development before it is finally launched, it has to go through a series of tests. Testing is a procedure that is performed to check the functionality of an application before it is launched. Furthermore, Testing helps the developer ensure that the application fulfills all the client requirements. A common form of development level testing is unit testing. Unit testing is testing performed on a single entity. This entity can be a class or method. As the name suggests, the application is divided into small units and is tested individually. This procedure dramatically reduces the chances of error in the final application and it thus helps deliver quality products to a customer.

JUnit Introduction and Features

Types of Unit Testing

Unit Testing can be performed in two ways

Manual Testing Automated Testing
If a test case is executed manually without the use of a support tool, it is called Manual Testing. If a test case is executed using an automation tool with the help of a support tool is called Automated Testing.
It is slow and tedious as a human performs it. It is significantly faster.
It requires massive investment as it requires more human testers. It requires less investment as most of the Testing is performed by an automation tool, requiring less human resources.
It is less reliable  It is precise and reliable

 

What is JUnit?

JUnit is a framework for Java programming language to perform unit testing. It plays an essential role in test-driven development and is a family of unit testing frameworks known as xUnit.
JUnit is based on the idea of "Testing first, then coding."Meaning JUNIT focuses on setting up the test data for a block of code that can first be tested and then implemented. This approach is like a cycle of minor Testing and minor coding, which increases a developer's productivity and code stability. This approach dramatically reduces the debugging time required by a programmer.

Need for JUnit Testing?

  • JUnit makes the code more readable, stable, and error-free
  • It immensely boosts the confidence of a developer 
  • It increases code reliability and application stability as it finds bugs in the early development stage of an application.
  • It enables a developer to spend more time reading code than writing it.

Features of JUnit

  • It is an open-source framework for Java, used to write and run test cases.
  • It identifies test methods by providing annotations.
  • It gives assertions to test expected results.
  • It runs tests by providing test runners.
  • It allows developers to provide error-free quality code.
  • It makes the code cleaner and run faster. 
  • It is straightforward to use.
  • It can run tests automatically and provide feedback for the intermediate result.
  • It can provide the test progress in a progress bar that turns green if the test runs efficiently and red if the test fails.

JUnit Annotations

JUnit Annotations are the syntactic meta-data appended to the Java source code for a superior structure and readability. The syntactic meta-data means the type of data representing the structure of a file with references to bytes, data types, and data structures.

The following are the JUnit Annotations:

  • @Test: Informs JUnit about which public void method could run as a test case
  • @Before: It is used to execute a statement before a test case
  • @After: It is used to execute a statement after a test case
  • @Ignores: It is used to ignore a statement during the execution process
  • @BeforeClass: It is used to execute a statement before all the test cases
  • @AfterClass: It is used to execute a statement after all the test cases
  • @Test: It is used to set a timeout while executing a test case
    Check out JUnit Interview Questions here.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is JUnit?

JUnit is a framework for Java programming language to perform unit testing. It plays an essential role in test-driven development and is a family of unit testing frameworks known as xUnit.

Why is JUnit needed?

JUnit makes the code readable, stable, and error-free. Furthermore, it boosts developers' confidence and is super easy to use

What are JUnit Annotations?

JUnit Annotations are the syntactic meta-data appended to the Java source code for a superior structure and readability. 

Which type of Unit testing is best overall?

While both Manual and Automated Unit testing have their advantages depending upon the type of application. Automated Unit testing is overall better than Manual Unit testing.

What does Testing first then coding mean?

JUnit focuses on setting up the test data for a block of code that can first be tested and then implemented. This approach is like a cycle of minor Testing and minor coding, which increases a developer's productivity and code stability. Hence called "Testing first then coding."

Conclusion

In this article, we learned about JUnit and its features. We also learned why Unit Testing is an essential part of application testing and how it dramatically impacts developers' confidence. However, this isn't enough, as there is always much more to explore and learn about this vast field of Web Development. To know more about JUnit and its intricacies, check out the articles on JUnit or enroll in our highly curated Web Development course.   

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