Hi all, This is a question of test code style.
In tests in my own projects, I use both the Python 'assert' statement and the unittest TestCase.assert* methods, with the following distinction: * The 'assert' statement is used to make assertions about the assumptions built in to *this* bit of code (i.e. the test itself). * The TestCase.assert* methods are used to make assertions about the outcome of the bit of code that is being tested. This is consistent with the use of the assert statement in other code and makes lots of sense to me. When reading tests it helps me see straight away what are the assumptions and sanity checks in the test, and what is actually being tested. It also has the advantage that if you have some setup code in a test, and it has assert statements in it, it can be moved out of a TestCase method without being altered. Looking at Django's test suite, I can find a few instances where this pattern is followed (e.g. [1], [2]). Sometimes the assert statement is also used where it is impractical to call TestCase methods (e.g. [3]). There are a few instances where the 'assert' statement is called when it should be a TestCase method (e.g. [4]). And there are many instances where TestCase asserts are called, when IMO it should be an assert statement. (e.g. [5]). So, the question is, going forward do we: 1) Use the pattern I outlined above? 2) Use a different pattern (e.g. always use TestCase assert methods where it is possible)? 3) Simply not care about any of this? My preference is to encourage 1). With existing tests, I would be tempted to change the handful of instances which use the assert statement when it should be TestCase assert method, but I wouldn't bother with the many instances which are the other way around, unless I was in the area. Regards, Luke [1] http://code.djangoproject.com/browser/django/trunk/tests/regressiontests/templates/tests.py#L347 [2] http://code.djangoproject.com/browser/django/trunk/tests/regressiontests/utils/simplelazyobject.py#L70 [3] http://code.djangoproject.com/browser/django/trunk/tests/regressiontests/model_forms_regress/models.py#L37 [4] http://code.djangoproject.com/browser/django/trunk/tests/modeltests/model_forms/tests.py#L35 [5] http://code.djangoproject.com/browser/django/trunk/tests/modeltests/serializers/tests.py#L69 -- "Smoking cures weight problems...eventually..." (Steven Wright) Luke Plant || http://lukeplant.me.uk/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Django developers" group. To post to this group, send email to django-develop...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to django-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/django-developers?hl=en.
