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Getting Started with PHP Unit Testing

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The World of Testing

3:29 with Alena Holligan

For all us imperfect programmers, I have some great news. There are tools that can help you keep those mistakes from breaking your application. They can also help you find and fix bugs faster, while at the same time, preventing those bugs from ever coming back. Many of these tools revolve around testing.

Types of Testing

Unit testing is the foundation of our testing would. Unit tests are written to verify that individual modules, these small units of code, are functioning the way that you expect. They do NOT talk to outside components such as a database or API. If you're familiar with Interfaces, it's kind of the same idea. If we pass the correct information, we should get back the expected results.

Integration testing is the next layer. While unit tests are isolated from other components, integration tests are not. For example, a unit test for database access would not talk to a real database, but an integration test would. Integration testing is for making sure your individual modules can work together.

Functional testing takes us to the next level. It ignores the internal parts and instead verifies that the application is actually meeting the requirements. All the pieces may work together, but have they built a dog or a fish? A house or a bicycle?

Acceptance testing is very much like the functional testing, only instead of a development or QA team verifying the results, the business person responsible for the application will verify that the results meet their expectations.

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    [MUSIC] 0:00
    Hi, my name's Alena. 0:09
    I've been programming for almost 20 years, and I'm a teacher here at Treehouse. 0:11
    I also have a confession. 0:16
    I'm not perfect. 0:18
    I know, I know, it's hard to believe, but the code I write is not perfect either. 0:20
    At this point in your journey, 0:26
    I hope that you've realized that every programmer makes mistakes. 0:27
    And if you haven't realized that yet, take a look in the notes for a great video. 0:30
    For all of us imperfect programmers, I have some great news. 0:35
    There are tools that can help you keep those mistakes 0:39
    from breaking your application. 0:42
    They can also help you find and fix bugs faster, 0:44
    while at the same time preventing those bugs from ever coming back. 0:47
    Many of these tools revolve around testing. 0:52
    There are many different types of testing, but 0:55
    let me outline a few of the most common. 0:57
    Unit testing is the foundation for a testing world. 1:00
    Unit tests are written to verify that individual modules, 1:03
    these small unite of code, are functioning the way that you expect. 1:07
    They do not talk to outside components such as a database or an API. 1:12
    If you are familiar with interfaces, it's kinda the same idea. 1:17
    If we pass the correct information, we should get back the expected results. 1:21
    Integration testing is the next layer. 1:26
    While the unit tests are isolated from other components, 1:29
    integration tests are not. 1:33
    For example, a unit test for 1:35
    database access would not talk to a real database, but an integration test would. 1:37
    Integration tests are for making sure your individual modules can work together. 1:44
    Functional testing takes us to the next level. 1:50
    It ignores the internal parts and, 1:53
    instead, verifies that the application is actually meeting the requirements. 1:55
    All the pieces may work together, but have they built a dog or a fish? 2:01
    A house or a bicycle? 2:06
    Acceptance testing is very much like the functional testing. 2:09
    Only instead of the development or 2:13
    QA team verifying the results, the business person responsible for 2:15
    the application will verify that the results meet their expectations. 2:20
    This course is going to focus on unit testing. 2:26
    We want to build a strong foundation for a reliable application, 2:29
    keeping mistakes to a minimum before our application reaches production. 2:33
    I've already mentioned that unit tests help to reduce bugs, 2:39
    provide faster debugging, and prevent the recurrence of those known bugs. 2:42
    Unit tests also make it easier to refactor code and provide additional documentation. 2:48
    Unit tests are tests written to verify that 2:55
    individual modules of code are functioning the way that you expect. 2:58
    The tests are supposed to be small, run quickly and not talk to a real thing. 3:03
    Because unit testing is meant to test these small units of code, 3:09
    it's primarily a designed for an object oriented approach to programming. 3:14
    Objects can be tested in isolation from other objects. 3:19
    Now that you have a basic understanding for 3:23
    what texting is, let's jump into writing our first text. 3:25

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