Unit Testing in Java: How Tests Drive the Code

Rating:
Summary: Practical unit test theory and implementation
Review: For a short book like this I'm very impressed with it's breadth of coverage. It stars by covering JUnit and the test first methodology. It then covers testing a variety of types of code, including very notably HTML and GUI code. The last chapter, which is one of it's best is on the importance of unit testing in the entire lifecycle of development. This is an instant classic in the under-covered world of unit testing. A must buy for both QA and Developer alike.

Rating:
Summary: Very nice book on Unit Testing
Review: I have found this book very helpful. It is not thick, but it covers a lot of important areas. Topics like test driven design, JUnit, Mock Objects etc are explained in a simple way with nice examples. For me this book was perfect because it describes the topics just enough to understand the principles without making me bored. Then there are a lot of references to more detailed infromation on the web. I have worked with unit testing using JUnit for a couple of years and by reading this book I now got some good hints on how to improve the way I'm working with unit tests.

Rating:
Summary: Practical and Informative
Review: I like this kind of book. It is practical and informative without being wordy or pretentious. It introduces test-driven development with a focus on Java and Java tools, but its lessons can be applied fairly well to any OO language such as C#, C++, Python etc. The book covers a pretty broad range of topics including an introduction to the principles of test-first development, mock objects, persistence, Web development, EJBs, and user interfaces, among others. Each topic is covered in sufficient detail to get started and points out the hazards one should be aware of. This book is also well-researched and contains a good list of references. Overall this is a solid, well-organized effort that deserves space on the bookshelf of any developer getting into test-driven development.

Rating:
Summary: Worth the effort
Review: Johannes Link's "Unit Testing in Java: How Tests Drive the Code" bills itself as "a practical introduction to unit testing for software developers." Link's book is very comprehensive and touches on most of the topics a developer will need to know about before setting off on his own, including some topics that have not been addressed in similar titles.

The first half of the book addresses basic techniques for unit testing. The author is a proponent of eXtreme Programming and test-driven design, and those concepts are explored as they relate to unit testing. This first part of the book is quite exhaustive and contains in great detail pretty much everything you would expect. One pleasant surprise here was a nice chapter on inheritance and polymorphism as it relates to unit testing. Link offers some excellent advice on this rarely addressed topic.

Once you've mastered the basic techniques, Link kicks it up a notch and addresses some more advanced topics relevant to our day-to-day lives as Java developers. The book discusses unit testing persistent objects, web applications, and GUIs, as well as rarely examined topics such as concurrent programs and distributed applications. As if that weren't enough, Link throws in an outstanding chapter on the role of unit tests in the software process which is necessary reading if you are attempting to integrate the book's practices into your own organization.

"Unit Testing in Java" isn't an overly large book, but it is certainly a dense book. The tone is academic and some of the phrasing is awkward, although it should be kept in mind that it is a translation from German. I like to think of "Unit Testing in Java" more as a text to be studied, rather than as a reference. However, there is so much that is good in here, that it is definitely worth the effort spent reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Worth the effort
Review: Johannes Link's "Unit Testing in Java: How Tests Drive the Code" bills itself as "a practical introduction to unit testing for software developers." Link's book is very comprehensive and touches on most of the topics a developer will need to know about before setting off on his own, including some topics that have not been addressed in similar titles.

The first half of the book addresses basic techniques for unit testing. The author is a proponent of eXtreme Programming and test-driven design, and those concepts are explored as they relate to unit testing. This first part of the book is quite exhaustive and contains in great detail pretty much everything you would expect. One pleasant surprise here was a nice chapter on inheritance and polymorphism as it relates to unit testing. Link offers some excellent advice on this rarely addressed topic.

Once you've mastered the basic techniques, Link kicks it up a notch and addresses some more advanced topics relevant to our day-to-day lives as Java developers. The book discusses unit testing persistent objects, web applications, and GUIs, as well as rarely examined topics such as concurrent programs and distributed applications. As if that weren't enough, Link throws in an outstanding chapter on the role of unit tests in the software process which is necessary reading if you are attempting to integrate the book's practices into your own organization.

"Unit Testing in Java" isn't an overly large book, but it is certainly a dense book. The tone is academic and some of the phrasing is awkward, although it should be kept in mind that it is a translation from German. I like to think of "Unit Testing in Java" more as a text to be studied, rather than as a reference. However, there is so much that is good in here, that it is definitely worth the effort spent reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Worth the effort
Review: Johannes Link's "Unit Testing in Java: How Tests Drive the Code" bills itself as "a practical introduction to unit testing for software developers." Link's book is very comprehensive and touches on most of the topics a developer will need to know about before setting off on his own, including some topics that have not been addressed in similar titles.

The first half of the book addresses basic techniques for unit testing. The author is a proponent of eXtreme Programming and test-driven design, and those concepts are explored as they relate to unit testing. This first part of the book is quite exhaustive and contains in great detail pretty much everything you would expect. One pleasant surprise here was a nice chapter on inheritance and polymorphism as it relates to unit testing. Link offers some excellent advice on this rarely addressed topic.

Once you've mastered the basic techniques, Link kicks it up a notch and addresses some more advanced topics relevant to our day-to-day lives as Java developers. The book discusses unit testing persistent objects, web applications, and GUIs, as well as rarely examined topics such as concurrent programs and distributed applications. As if that weren't enough, Link throws in an outstanding chapter on the role of unit tests in the software process which is necessary reading if you are attempting to integrate the book's practices into your own organization.

"Unit Testing in Java" isn't an overly large book, but it is certainly a dense book. The tone is academic and some of the phrasing is awkward, although it should be kept in mind that it is a translation from German. I like to think of "Unit Testing in Java" more as a text to be studied, rather than as a reference. However, there is so much that is good in here, that it is definitely worth the effort spent reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Thorough, pragmatic and enjoyable
Review: Let me first say that this book has not been my first contact with unit testing and test-driven programming: I recently read Kent Beck's "Test-Driven Development" and followed some of the unit testing threads in the Extreme Programming discussion group. Beck's book left me somewhat helpless and thinking "And how do I use that in real work?" Johannes Link's book had much more to offer for me in that respect, especially in the second part where he tackles the problems of web apps, database programming, user interfaces and distributed programs. I certainly liked his treatment of mock objects. Mr Link seems to be a pragmatic proponent of test-driven development - a good thing as far as I'm concerned - and he also has lots of reasonable advice for those testing their programs after the fact.
On the downside there is this chapter about unit testing within more traditional software development. These pages might be useful for others; I don't think they belong in this otherwise very enjoyable book.

Rating:
Summary: Thorough, pragmatic and enjoyable
Review: Let me first say that this book has not been my first contact with unit testing and test-driven programming: I recently read Kent Beck's "Test-Driven Development" and followed some of the unit testing threads in the Extreme Programming discussion group. Beck's book left me somewhat helpless and thinking "And how do I use that in real work?" Johannes Link's book had much more to offer for me in that respect, especially in the second part where he tackles the problems of web apps, database programming, user interfaces and distributed programs. I certainly liked his treatment of mock objects. Mr Link seems to be a pragmatic proponent of test-driven development - a good thing as far as I'm concerned - and he also has lots of reasonable advice for those testing their programs after the fact.
On the downside there is this chapter about unit testing within more traditional software development. These pages might be useful for others; I don't think they belong in this otherwise very enjoyable book.

Rating:
Summary: Solid and practical, if occasionally quirky
Review: This book starts by covering general techniques in unit testing, including when and why to do it, how to know if you are doing it right, and how it integrates with other development practices. This is good stuff, but mostly also covered in other books. The section on Mock Objects is especially well done though, illuminating an often misunderstood topic area.

The latter half is where this book shines. It tackles some of the really tough areas and does it very well. Singletons, database persistence, asynchronous services, concurrent and distributed systems, web applications and graphical user interfaces; all these are often skipped over as "too hard to test". If you've ever found yourself thinking something like that, you need this book.

This book is a translation from a German original. Although the translators have done a tremendous job with the technical content, sometimes a phrase or section title, especially in the initial introduction can seem very unusual. Don't be put off by the quirky language in the early chapters, the meat of the book is well worth reading and putting into practice. This book is a masterly example of how to convert programming theory into solid, practical advice.

Rating:
Summary: Solid and practical, if occasionally quirky
Review: This book starts by covering general techniques in unit testing, including when and why to do it, how to know if you are doing it right, and how it integrates with other development practices. This is good stuff, but mostly also covered in other books. The section on Mock Objects is especially well done though, illuminating an often misunderstood topic area.

The latter half is where this book shines. It tackles some of the really tough areas and does it very well. Singletons, database persistence, asynchronous services, concurrent and distributed systems, web applications and graphical user interfaces; all these are often skipped over as "too hard to test". If you've ever found yourself thinking something like that, you need this book.

This book is a translation from a German original. Although the translators have done a tremendous job with the technical content, sometimes a phrase or section title, especially in the initial introduction can seem very unusual. Don't be put off by the quirky language in the early chapters, the meat of the book is well worth reading and putting into practice. This book is a masterly example of how to convert programming theory into solid, practical advice.