> Some really useful refactorings are:
> 
> - extract setUp method (this one is missing in all IDE's). Write a test with 
> no setup, and then you want to take the initialisation of a variable at the 
> top of a method and move it to a test setup method (possibly extracting an 
> instance variable as well).
> 
> - extract sub-component (or delegate or policy) - eg. extract out a method 
> into another class and call it via an instance variable (eg. delegate 
> behavior)
> 
> - extract to local variable, and inline local variable are also very common 
> eclipsy things that we seem to miss at a local method level in smalltalk as 
> well


Oh yes! 
There is a whole range of useful refactorings for unit tests that I would love 
to have.
 - Cutting a unit test in two. For example, moving a method category into a new 
unit test
 - Structure unit tests along the hierarchy of the tested classes
 - extract the setUp, tearDown, and resources

In general, there is research field about unit tests that is here to explore:
  - reducing the duplication between unit tests
  - reducing the redundancy in tests (do I test twice the same thing?)
  - if I want to test a method, where should I start? By writing a new unit 
test or extending an existing one?
  - Having a button 'generate test' in the pre-debugger, to be sure that an 
error will never happen
  - ...

Here, at the UChile, we are particularly interested in these issues.

Cheers,
Alexandre

-- 
_,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:
Alexandre Bergel  http://www.bergel.eu
^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;._,.;:~^~:;.






Reply via email to