Make your testing Groovy © ASERT 2006-2016
Dr Paul King Groovy Lead for Object Computing Inc. @paulk_asert http:/slideshare.net/paulk_asert/make-tests-groovy https://github.com/paulk-asert/MakeTestingGroovy
Why test with Groovy?
© ASERT 2006-2016
Why test with Groovy?
• Wrong first question! • … but great second question?
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• Consider first the task at hand and the organization and people fit!
“People Fit” / “Organization Fit”
• People
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Developers (familiarity with languages) Testers (tools language familiarity) Responsibility to create/run/maintain BAs/SMEs (ability to read technical tests) Consider both development and maintenance Expected feedback from tests (JUnit/Reports)
• Organization – – – –
Maturity level Degree of automation Tools in use Need for adaptability
Why Test With Groovy?
• Advantages – – – –
Easy to learn Particularly good for Java shops Easy to plug and play different testing tools Good community & tools for professional agile
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• Disadvantages – Requires JVM – Less advantages if your developers using Python, .Net, PHP – Maybe your testers already know Ruby
Scripting/Dynamic Languages
• Advantages
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Lend themselves to succinct code/DSLs Powerful Increased Refactoring Increased Reuse Less prone to Brittleness Flexibility for tool integration Open APIs provide extensibility
• Disadvantages – Can be too low level – Sometimes less tool support
Test Characteristics…
• Coverage/Traceability – Requirement coverage/traceability – Code coverage: line, branch, path, state – Transactional Tracing © ASERT 2006-2016
• Purpose – Unit, Integration, System, Customer
• Manageability – Removing duplication – Managing lifecycle: shared setUp/tearDown (@Before @After)
…Test Characteristics
• Handling test data
© ASERT 2006-2016
– Data-driven, databases, Spreadsheets, tables, keywords, random, model-driven – Large Test Volumes – Speed of feedback, performance testing
• Tool evolution, longevity, cost, support, documentation – Open Source/Commercial, Critical mass/popularity
• Combinability
Key Testing Practices…
• Use testing DSL’s • Look to move up the testing stack
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– It used to be all about the driver – Now the driver is hidden in the framework or tool stack
• Apply good testing practices – Pareto analysis, bug clusters, mutation testing, test early, all pairs/equivalence partitions/orthogonal array testing, risk-based test selection, coding for testability, use CI, boundary value analysis, defensive programming
…Key Testing Practices
• Plug and play testing tools – Run different drivers with different runners and different tools
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• Complement automated tests with exploration • Expand testing scope – Test environment readiness, test deployments
Groovy and Testing Tool Spectrum*
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* Tools/libraries/frameworks don't always neatly fall into one category – still useful conceptually
What is Groovy?
© ASERT 2006-2016
“Groovy is like a super version of Java. It leverages Java features but adds productivity features and provides great flexibility and extensibility.” Groovy = Java – + + +
boiler plate code closures (1st class FP) extensible type system runtime & compile-time metaprogramming + flexible grammar (DSLs) + scripting & GDK library
Groovy starter
© ASERT 2006-2016
System.out.println("Hello, World!"); println 'Hello, World!'
// supports Java syntax // but can remove some syntax
String name = 'Guillaume' println "$name, I'll get the car."
// Explicit typing/awareness // Gstring (interpolation)
def longer = """${name}, the car is in the next row."""
// multi-line, implicit type
assert 0.5 == 1/2 assert 0.1 + 0.2 == 0.3
// BigDecimal equals() // and arithmetic
def printSize(obj) { print obj?.size() }
// implicit/duck typing // safe dereferencing
def pets = ['ant', 'bee', 'cat'] pets.each { pet -> assert pet < 'dog' }
// // // //
literal list syntax closure support overloading '
