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Back to Basics: Unit Testing in C++ - Dave Steffen - CppCon 2024
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Unit Testing is a big, complicated subject. With good advice coming in from books, conference talks, and blog posts beyond count, it's a daunting topic even for experienced developers.  Can we make the subject more approachable?

Yes we can.  If we look a little deeper, there are some fundamental principles behind the advice. Further, these principles seem to belong to a small number of "domains", each addressing a very different aspect of unit testing and software development.

For example, "Test error conditions separately", "Tests should be easy to read", and "Write the unit tests first" are all great advice, but each is aiming for a very different goal.

In this talk, we'll survey these domains of unit testing practice, identify some of the basic practices involved in each, and put the larger discussion of unit testing into a more useful context.  We will also see how some unit testing practices enhance or conflict with others, and how these controversies reveal deep philosophical questions that have real consequences for how we go about the day-to-day activity of testing our code.
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Slides: https://github.com/CppCon/CppCon2024/blob/main/Presentations/Back_to_Basics_Unit_Testing.pdf

Sponsored by JetBrains: https://www.jetbrains.com/clion/
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Dave Steffen
 
Dave Steffen completed his Ph.D. in theoretical physics at Colorado State University in 2003, and promptly changed course for a career in software engineering. He has worked primarily in defence and aerospace, and is currently a technical lead at SciTec Inc.'s Boulder office. For reasons unknown, he has turned out to be the expert, champion, and occasional street-corner evangelist for unit testing at most of the companies he has ever worked at.
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#cpp #cplusplus #cppcon #cppprogramming #unittest #backtobasics #softwaredevelopment #softwareengineering #coding #code #technology #unittesting #programming #programmer

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A comprehensive introduction to unit testing fundamentals in C++, covering the scientific approach to testing, white box vs black box testing methodologies, and the importance of writing testable code. The talk emphasizes that unit testing is the first line of defense against bugs, demonstrates practical examples using the Catch2 framework, and explores how unit testing improves software design. Key concepts include making tests repeatable and precise, testing at the function level, and the relationship between good design and testability.