A Beginners Guide to Types of Unit Testing & Their Significance

What are Unit Tests?

Unit testing is the process of running your application's code through test suites and then verifying that it behaves as expected. In short, unit testing makes sure that every part of your application works as it should. If a function in one module doesn't work as expected, or if a variable or controller doesn't behave in the way you expect, unit tests can help you discover these problems early on. Unit testing is the way of testing individual units within the code. It involves running the tests on a full unit, which means each class, function, or piece of data.

What is the purpose of Unit Testing?

Unit testing is a process of writing code to test the behavior and functionality of individual components/units while ensuring that they work as expected. Unit tests are written with code that makes assertions against the expected output (behavior) and input (state). 

These assertions might be based on certain conditions or operations that you expect your component/unit to perform when given specific inputs. The purpose is to ensure all parts of your software work together smoothly, efficiently, and correctly - without having any issues arise from bugs in other parts of your system. Regarding types of unit testing, they can be primarily categorized into two types:

a. Manual Unit Tests:

Manual unit testing is time-consuming. It can be done with a compact routine, but it is possible to do manual unit testing with a compact routine. To manually test an application's functions and logic, you need to create tests for each function in your program. These tests will exercise the function and check that all of its inputs are valid and return correct results when they are used by some other part of your code. 

For example, if you want to check whether a user has logged into their account). Manual unit testing can be a great way to introduce uncertainty into your tests. By using it, you can catch errors before they go into production. When done correctly, manual unit testing can identify many potential bugs or flaws before they go into production. For example:

b. Automated Unit Tests:

Automated (or sometimes "scripted") unit testing tools are used to perform all the useful tasks from writing the test cases to executing them on various platforms with varying system requirements. Automated tools are useful because they help you save time and effort in testing your code, as well as provide you with the ability to test multiple parts of a program at once. With an automated tool, you can write your tests in plain English instead of requiring developers or analysts who may not know how best to approach this type of task.

Automated unit tests reduce the potential for human error. By running automated tests regularly, you can catch bugs before they become problems and fix them as soon as possible. Automated tests can also be run in a controlled environment so that developers don't have to worry about anything outside of their normal day-to-day work duties (such as setting up virtual machines). If you are looking for reliable and up-to-date testing services then WeTest provides Mobile App Test Automation services which feature 1000 plus device testing range, detailed test analysis, execution of these tests in parallel, and DevOps integration as well.

Automated tests are usually written in an editor such as Visual Studio Code or Sublime Text (although this doesn't mean that they'll always use these editors). They're designed specifically with one goal in mind: to detect whether your code works correctly under certain circumstances by checking its output against some known values or inputs. This means that if you have many different types of input coming into your program—for example if you're testing something related to financial transactions—you need more than just one set of test cases; instead, you'll want multiple sets based on different situations where those inputs may occur. There are other types of unit testing and classifications as well which come under the unit testing bracket:

1. Expression testing is a way to check for syntax errors in expressions. It ensures that a program accepts only the correct string of characters in any expression.

2. Black box testing sometimes referred to as specification-based testing, is a technique used to assess software’s functionality. It doesn’t involve trying to figure out how the inner workings of the application work; it focuses only on its outer shell.

3. White box testing is a type of unit testing technique that prioritizes the process of testing the internal structure of an application. This type of testing is used in both unit testing and higher levels of software testing.

4. Branch testing is a type of white box testing technique that verifies that every possible branch of a decision point programmed in software can be executed.

5. Regression testing is a type of unit testing to check program's features have not been affected when it has been updated. They check whether the program's features still work as expected once changes have been made.

Wrapping Up:

Before we wrap up our take on the types of unit testing, we can state that automated tools in unit testing help you to test your code more quickly and easily than you could with manual testing. Manual Unit Testing is a practice that should be learned by anyone who works in software development. It’s not as convenient, but it can be very powerful and effective at finding bugs in your code. If you are looking to improve the stability and overall performance f your software development then we recommend checking out the PerfDog, a state-of-the-art performance testing tool from WeTest featuring the ability to process Various Performance Data, Support Secondary Development, Team Collaboration Services, and much more all under in one software suite.