Why should unit tests test only one thing?

Question

What Makes a Good Unit Test? says that a test should test only one thing. What is the benefit from that?

Wouldn't it be better to write a bit bigger tests that test bigger block of code? Investigating a test failure is anyway hard and I don't see help to it from smaller tests.

Edit: The word unit is not that important. Let's say I consider the unit a bit bigger. That is not the issue here. The real question is why make a test or more for all methods as few tests that cover many methods is simpler.

An example: A list class. Why should I make separate tests for addition and removal? A one test that first adds then removes sounds simpler.

Answer 1

Testing only one thing will isolate that one thing and prove whether or not it works. That is the idea with unit testing. Nothing wrong with tests that test more than one thing, but that is generally referred to as integration testing. They both have merits, based on context.

To use an example, if your bedside lamp doesn't turn on, and you replace the bulb and switch the extension cord, you don't know which change fixed the issue. Should have done unit testing, and separated your concerns to isolate the problem.

Update: I read this article and linked articles and I gotta say, I'm shook: https://techbeacon.com/app-dev-testing/no-1-unit-testing-best-practice-stop-doing-it

There is substance here and it gets the mental juices flowing. But I reckon that it jibes with the original sentiment that we should be doing the test that context demands. I suppose I'd just append that to say that we need to get closer to knowing for sure the benefits of different testing on a system and less of a cross-your-fingers approach. Measurements/quantifications and all that good stuff.

Answer 2

I'm going to go out on a limb here, and say that the "only test one thing" advice isn't as actually helpful as it's sometimes made out to be.

Sometimes tests take a certain amount of setting up. Sometimes they may even take a certain amount of time to set up (in the real world). Often you can test two actions in one go.

Pro: only have all that setup occur once. Your tests after the first action will prove that the world is how you expect it to be before the second action. Less code, faster test run.

Con: if either action fails, you'll get the same result: the same test will fail. You'll have less information about where the problem is than if you only had a single action in each of two tests.

In reality, I find that the "con" here isn't much of a problem. The stack trace often narrows things down very quickly, and I'm going to make sure I fix the code anyway.

A slightly different "con" here is that it breaks the "write a new test, make it pass, refactor" cycle. I view that as an ideal cycle, but one which doesn't always mirror reality. Sometimes it's simply more pragmatic to add an extra action and check (or possibly just another check to an existing action) in a current test than to create a new one.

Answer 3

Tests that check for more than one thing aren't usually recommended because they are more tightly coupled and brittle. If you change something in the code, it'll take longer to change the test, since there are more things to account for.

[Edit:] Ok, say this is a sample test method:

[TestMethod]
public void TestSomething() {
  // Test condition A
  // Test condition B
  // Test condition C
  // Test condition D
}

If your test for condition A fails, then B, C, and D will appear to fail as well, and won't provide you with any usefulness. What if your code change would have caused C to fail as well? If you had split them out into 4 separate tests, you would know this.

Answer 4

Haaa... unit tests.

Push any "directives" too far and it rapidly becomes unusable.

Single unit test test a single thing is just as good practice as single method does a single task. But IMHO that does not mean a single test can only contain a single assert statement.

Is

@Test
public void checkNullInputFirstArgument(){...}
@Test
public void checkNullInputSecondArgument(){...}
@Test
public void checkOverInputFirstArgument(){...}
...

better than

@Test
public void testLimitConditions(){...}

is question of taste in my opinion rather than good practice. I personally much prefer the latter.

But

@Test
public void doesWork(){...}

is actually what the "directive" wants you to avoid at all cost and what drains my sanity the fastest.

As a final conclusion, group together things that are semantically related and easilly testable together so that a failed test message, by itself, is actually meaningful enough for you to go directly to the code.

Rule of thumb here on a failed test report: if you have to read the test's code first then your test are not structured well enough and need more splitting into smaller tests.

My 2 cents.

Answer 5

Think of building a car. If you were to apply your theory, of just testing big things, then why not make a test to drive the car through a desert. It breaks down. Ok, so tell me what caused the problem. You can't. That's a scenario test.

A functional test may be to turn on the engine. It fails. But that could be because of a number of reasons. You still couldn't tell me exactly what caused the problem. We're getting closer though.

A unit test is more specific, and will firstly identify where the code is broken, but it will also (if doing proper TDD) help architect your code into clear, modular chunks.

Someone mentioned about using the stack trace. Forget it. That's a second resort. Going through the stack trace, or using debug is a pain and can be time consuming. Especially on larger systems, and complex bugs.

Good characteristics of a unit test:

• Fast (milliseconds)
• Independent. It's not affected by or dependent on other tests
• Clear. It shouldn't be bloated, or contain a huge amount of setup.

Answer 6

Using test-driven development, you would write your tests first, then write the code to pass the test. If your tests are focused, this makes writing the code to pass the test easier.

For example, I might have a method that takes a parameter. One of the things I might think of first is, what should happen if the parameter is null? It should throw a ArgumentNull exception (I think). So I write a test that checks to see if that exception is thrown when I pass a null argument. Run the test. Okay, it throws NotImplementedException. I go and fix that by changing the code to throw an ArgumentNull exception. Run my test it passes. Then I think, what happens if it's too small or too big? Ah, that's two tests. I write the too small case first.

The point is I don't think of the behavior of the method all at once. I build it incrementally (and logically) by thinking about what it should do, then implement code and refactoring as I go to make it look pretty (elegant). This is why tests should be small and focused because when you are thinking about the behavior you should develop in small, understandable increments.

Answer 7

Having tests that verify only one thing makes troubleshooting easier. It's not to say you shouldn't also have tests that do test multiple things, or multiple tests that share the same setup/teardown.

Here should be an illustrative example. Let's say that you have a stack class with queries:

• getSize
• isEmpty
• getTop

and methods to mutate the stack

• push(anObject)
• pop()

Now, consider the following test case for it (I'm using Python like pseudo-code for this example.)

class TestCase():
    def setup():
        self.stack = new Stack()
    def test():
        stack.push(1)
        stack.push(2)
        stack.pop()
        assert stack.top() == 1, "top() isn't showing correct object"
        assert stack.getSize() == 1, "getSize() call failed"

From this test case, you can determine if something is wrong, but not whether it is isolated to the push() or pop() implementations, or the queries that return values: top() and getSize().

If we add individual test cases for each method and its behavior, things become much easier to diagnose. Also, by doing fresh setup for each test case, we can guarantee that the problem is completely within the methods that the failing test method called.

def test_size():
    assert stack.getSize() == 0
    assert stack.isEmpty()

def test_push():
    self.stack.push(1)
    assert stack.top() == 1, "top returns wrong object after push"
    assert stack.getSize() == 1, "getSize wrong after push"

def test_pop():
    stack.push(1)
    stack.pop()
    assert stack.getSize() == 0, "getSize wrong after push"

As far as test-driven development is concerned. I personally write larger "functional tests" that end up testing multiple methods at first, and then create unit tests as I start to implement individual pieces.

Another way to look at it is unit tests verify the contract of each individual method, while larger tests verify the contract that the objects and the system as a whole must follow.

I'm still using three method calls in test_push, however both top() and getSize() are queries that are tested by separate test methods.

You could get similar functionality by adding more asserts to the single test, but then later assertion failures would be hidden.

Answer 8

If you are testing more than one thing then it is called an Integration test...not a unit test. You would still run these integration tests in the same testing framework as your unit tests.

Integration tests are generally slower, unit tests are fast because all dependencies are mocked/faked, so no database/web service/slow service calls.

We run our unit tests on commit to source control, and our integration tests only get run in the nightly build.

Answer 9

If you test more than one thing and the first thing you test fails, you will not know if the subsequent things you are testing pass or fail. It is easier to fix when you know everything that will fail.

Answer 10

The GLib, but hopefully still useful, answer is that unit = one. If you test more than one thing, then you aren't unit testing.

Answer 11

Smaller unit test make it more clear where the issue is when they fail.

Answer 12

Regarding your example: If you are testing add and remove in the same unit test, how do you verify that the item was ever added to your list? That is why you need to add and verify that it was added in one test.

Or to use the lamp example: If you want to test your lamp and all you do is turn the switch on and then off, how do you know the lamp ever turned on? You must take the step in between to look at the lamp and verify that it is on. Then you can turn it off and verify that it turned off.

Answer 13

I support the idea that unit tests should only test one thing. I also stray from it quite a bit. Today I had a test where expensive setup seemed to be forcing me to make more than one assertion per test.

namespace Tests.Integration
{
  [TestFixture]
  public class FeeMessageTest
  {
    [Test]
    public void ShouldHaveCorrectValues
    {
      var fees = CallSlowRunningFeeService();
      Assert.AreEqual(6.50m, fees.ConvenienceFee);
      Assert.AreEqual(2.95m, fees.CreditCardFee);
      Assert.AreEqual(59.95m, fees.ChangeFee);
    }
  }
}

At the same time, I really wanted to see all my assertions that failed, not just the first one. I was expecting them all to fail, and I needed to know what amounts I was really getting back. But, a standard [SetUp] with each test divided would cause 3 calls to the slow service. Suddenly I remembered an article suggesting that using "unconventional" test constructs is where half the benefit of unit testing is hidden. (I think it was a Jeremy Miller post, but can't find it now.) Suddenly [TestFixtureSetUp] popped to mind, and I realized I could make a single service call but still have separate, expressive test methods.

namespace Tests.Integration
{
  [TestFixture]
  public class FeeMessageTest
  {
    Fees fees;
    [TestFixtureSetUp]
    public void FetchFeesMessageFromService()
    {
      fees = CallSlowRunningFeeService();
    }

    [Test]
    public void ShouldHaveCorrectConvenienceFee()
    {
      Assert.AreEqual(6.50m, fees.ConvenienceFee);
    }

    [Test]
    public void ShouldHaveCorrectCreditCardFee()
    {
      Assert.AreEqual(2.95m, fees.CreditCardFee);
    }

    [Test]
    public void ShouldHaveCorrectChangeFee()
    {
      Assert.AreEqual(59.95m, fees.ChangeFee);
    }
  }
}

There is more code in this test, but it provides much more value by showing me all the values that don't match expectations at once.

A colleague also pointed out that this is a bit like Scott Bellware's specunit.net: http://code.google.com/p/specunit-net/

Answer 14

The real question is why make a test or more for all methods as few tests that cover many methods is simpler.

Well, so that when some test fails you know which method fails.

When you have to repair a non-functioning car, it is easier when you know which part of the engine is failing.

An example: A list class. Why should I make separate tests for addition and removal? A one test that first adds then removes sounds simpler.

Let's suppose that the addition method is broken and does not add, and that the removal method is broken and does not remove. Your test would check that the list, after addition and removal, has the same size as initially. Your test would be in success. Although both of your methods would be broken.

Answer 15

When a test fails, there are three options:

1. The implementation is broken and should be fixed.
2. The test is broken and should be fixed.
3. The test is not anymore needed and should be removed.

Fine-grained tests with descriptive names help the reader to know why the test was written, which in turn makes it easier to know which of the above options to choose. The name of the test should describe the behaviour which is being specified by the test - and only one behaviour per test - so that just by reading the names of the tests the reader will know what the system does. See this article for more information.

On the other hand, if one test is doing lots of different things and it has a non-descriptive name (such as tests named after methods in the implementation), then it will be very hard to find out the motivation behind the test, and it will be hard to know when and how to change the test.

Here is what a it can look like (with GoSpec), when each test tests only one thing:

func StackSpec(c gospec.Context) {
  stack := NewStack()

  c.Specify("An empty stack", func() {

    c.Specify("is empty", func() {
      c.Then(stack).Should.Be(stack.Empty())
    })
    c.Specify("After a push, the stack is no longer empty", func() {
      stack.Push("foo")
      c.Then(stack).ShouldNot.Be(stack.Empty())
    })
  })

  c.Specify("When objects have been pushed onto a stack", func() {
    stack.Push("one")
    stack.Push("two")

    c.Specify("the object pushed last is popped first", func() {
      x := stack.Pop()
      c.Then(x).Should.Equal("two")
    })
    c.Specify("the object pushed first is popped last", func() {
      stack.Pop()
      x := stack.Pop()
      c.Then(x).Should.Equal("one")
    })
    c.Specify("After popping all objects, the stack is empty", func() {
      stack.Pop()
      stack.Pop()
      c.Then(stack).Should.Be(stack.Empty())
    })
  })
}

Answer 16

Another practical disadvantage of very granular unit testing is that it breaks the DRY principle. I have worked on projects where the rule was that each public method of a class had to have a unit test (a [TestMethod]). Obviously this added some overhead every time you created a public method but the real problem was that it added some "friction" to refactoring.

It's similar to method level documentation, it's nice to have but it's another thing that has to be maintained and it makes changing a method signature or name a little more cumbersome and slows down "floss refactoring" (as described in "Refactoring Tools: Fitness for Purpose" by Emerson Murphy-Hill and Andrew P. Black. PDF, 1.3 MB).

Like most things in design, there is a trade-off that the phrase "a test should test only one thing" doesn't capture.

Answer 17

Disclaimer: This is an answer highly influenced by the book "xUnit Test Patterns".

Testing only one thing at each test is one of the most basic principles that provides the following benefits:

• Defect Localization: If a test fails, you immediately know why it failed (ideally without further troubleshooting, if you've done a good job with the assertions used).
• Test as a specification: the tests are not only there as a safety net, but can easily be used as specification/documentation. For instance, a developer should be able to read the unit tests of a single component and understand the API/contract of it, without needing to read the implementation (leveraging the benefit of encapsulation).
• Infeasibility of TDD: TDD is based on having small-sized chunks of functionality and completing progressive iterations of (write failing test, write code, verify test succeeds). This process get highly disrupted if a test has to verify multiple things.
• Lack of side-effects: Somewhat related to the first one, but when a test verifies multiple things, it's more possible that it will be tied to other tests as well. So, these tests might need to have a shared test fixture, which means that one will be affected by the other one. So, eventually you might have a test failing, but in reality another test is the one that caused the failure, e.g. by changing the fixture data.

I can only see a single reason why you might benefit from having a test that verifies multiple things, but this should be seen as a code smell actually:

• Performance optimisation: There are some cases, where your tests are not running only in memory, but are also dependent in persistent storage (e.g. databases). In some of these cases, having a test verify multiple things might help in decreasing the number of disk accesses, thus decreasing the execution time. However, unit tests should ideally be executable only in memory, so if you stumble upon such a case, you should re-consider whether you are going in the wrong path. All persistent dependencies should be replaced with mock objects in unit tests. End-to-end functionality should be covered by a different suite of integration tests. In this way, you do not need to care about execution time anymore, since integration tests are usually executed by build pipelines and not by developers, so a slightly higher execution time has almost no impact to the efficiency of the software development lifecycle.