On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:45:58 am Michael Foord wrote: > I tend to think of testing as action followed by assertion - > I do this and this should have happened. Your tests usually define > 'expected behaviour' rather than defining how your code won't fail...
Who is the "your" that you are speaking for there? It isn't me. I tend to think of tests as *both* expected behaviour and unexpected behaviour: sometimes a test is most naturally written as "this should happen" and sometimes as "this shouldn't happen". It depends on what I'm testing. When it comes to test-driven development, I will often start by thinking "What test can I write to make this code fail?" -- not "what test can I write to make this code pass?". Having come up with a failure mode, the test is often most naturally written as "fail if" or "fail unless", and I resent having to turn the condition around into a "assert if not" test just to satisfy others who are never going to read my code. I wish people would go find another bike shed to interfere with. -- Steven _______________________________________________ Python-Dev mailing list Python-Dev@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-dev Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/python-dev/archive%40mail-archive.com
