Programming Forums > Script Programming > Python

Jessehk · Jul 21st, 2006, 12:58 PM

All right, you win. Ruby is fun, but I'm finding through use that Python is more scalable, clean, and more suited to readability. Unfortunately, it seems to me that the trend in the Ruby community is to encourage golf and one-liners, much like Perl. In Ruby's defence, it still has a much more pure design that is more thought-out then Python.

Anyway, back to the main point of this thread.
To my delight, python comes with a unit test framework. It's not as good as Ruby's, but it's still useful.

My idea was to create a bunch of unit tests for every module like so:

 python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
if __name__ == "__main__":
    import unittest
    #Inherit from unittest.TestCase and run tests
if __name__ == "__main__":
    import unittest
    #Inherit from unittest.TestCase and run tests

My questions are:

a) Is this a good idea?
and b) Should I create the class and run the tests under the if condition, or create some kind of main() method that's called under the if __name__.. etc thing?

Arevos · Jul 21st, 2006, 1:28 PM

Sure, it's a good idea, so long as you don't have your unit tests in the same module as your code.

The unit tests for my modules tend to look something like:

 python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) 
import unittest
from module_to_be_tested import *
 
class ModuleTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
    def test_my_double_function(self):
        assert my_double_function(2) == 4
        assert my_double_function(3) == 6
 
    ...
 
if __name__ == "__main__":
    unittest.main()
import unittest
from module_to_be_tested import *

class ModuleTest(unittest.TestCase):

    def test_my_double_function(self):
        assert my_double_function(2) == 4
        assert my_double_function(3) == 6

    ...

if __name__ == "__main__":
    unittest.main()

I agree with you that Python's unittest module isn't as good as it could be. It's very Java-like, and to my mind py.test is far superior (though not a standard module, and not yet released as stable).

I also agree with you about Ruby. I like the way it handles properties and classes, but dislike the Perl hackiness (if there is such a word) that pervades the language.

Jessehk · Jul 21st, 2006, 1:38 PM

So I guess you'd have something like:

(Toggle Plain Text)

/app
   |____/lib
   |____/test
   |____/bin

?

In that case, if I was in /test, and I wanted to import a module in another directory, would I just append to sys.path ?

EDIT: Oh, and thanks. I'll have to look into py.test.

Silvanus · Jul 22nd, 2006, 10:17 PM

You might want to look into Nose; it's the unit testing framework used by Turbogears.

Jul 21st, 2006, 12:58 PM	#1
Jessehk The Oblivious One Join Date: May 2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 648 Rep Power: 4	unittest for every module All right, you win. Ruby is fun, but I'm finding through use that Python is more scalable, clean, and more suited to readability. Unfortunately, it seems to me that the trend in the Ruby community is to encourage golf and one-liners, much like Perl. In Ruby's defence, it still has a much more pure design that is more thought-out then Python. Anyway, back to the main point of this thread. To my delight, python comes with a unit test framework. It's not as good as Ruby's, but it's still useful. My idea was to create a bunch of unit tests for every module like so: python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) if __name__ == "__main__": import unittest #Inherit from unittest.TestCase and run tests if __name__ == "__main__": import unittest #Inherit from unittest.TestCase and run tests My questions are: a) Is this a good idea? and b) Should I create the class and run the tests under the if condition, or create some kind of main() method that's called under the if __name__.. etc thing? __________________ Dr. Zoidberg: [ecstatic] I'm going to a movie... with FRIENDS! Last edited by Jessehk; Jul 21st, 2006 at 1:11 PM.

Jul 21st, 2006, 1:28 PM	#2
Arevos Programming Guru Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: England Posts: 1,499 Rep Power: 5	Sure, it's a good idea, so long as you don't have your unit tests in the same module as your code. The unit tests for my modules tend to look something like: python Syntax (Toggle Plain Text) import unittest from module_to_be_tested import * class ModuleTest(unittest.TestCase): def test_my_double_function(self): assert my_double_function(2) == 4 assert my_double_function(3) == 6 ... if __name__ == "__main__": unittest.main() import unittest from module_to_be_tested import * class ModuleTest(unittest.TestCase): def test_my_double_function(self): assert my_double_function(2) == 4 assert my_double_function(3) == 6 ... if __name__ == "__main__": unittest.main() I agree with you that Python's unittest module isn't as good as it could be. It's very Java-like, and to my mind py.test is far superior (though not a standard module, and not yet released as stable). I also agree with you about Ruby. I like the way it handles properties and classes, but dislike the Perl hackiness (if there is such a word) that pervades the language.

Jul 21st, 2006, 1:38 PM	#3
Jessehk The Oblivious One Join Date: May 2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 648 Rep Power: 4	So I guess you'd have something like: (Toggle Plain Text) /app \|____/lib \|____/test \|____/bin /app \|____/lib \|____/test \|____/bin ? In that case, if I was in /test, and I wanted to import a module in another directory, would I just append to sys.path ? EDIT: Oh, and thanks. I'll have to look into py.test. __________________ Dr. Zoidberg: [ecstatic] I'm going to a movie... with FRIENDS!

Jul 22nd, 2006, 10:17 PM	#4
Silvanus Hobbyist Programmer Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Hiding from... them... Posts: 110 Rep Power: 4	You might want to look into Nose; it's the unit testing framework used by Turbogears. __________________ :wq

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Programming Forums > Script Programming > Python

unittest for every module