[Python-Dev] Proposed unittest changes (original) (raw)

Steve Purcell steve at pythonconsulting.com
Thu Apr 17 17:39:16 CEST 2008

Great that you're taking this on, Michael!

On 17 Apr 2008, at 16:59, Michael Foord wrote:

If you're looking for useful features, Google has a set of extensions to unittest.py that I find useful:

- module-level setUp and tearDown So when a suite is made from a module the setUp should be called before the first test and tearDown after the last. I can look at that.

Note that suites are just clumps of tests, and test runners can choose
to run tests in any order, which might complicate the above.

In any case, I'd advise against per-module setUp/tearDown because it
breaks the fundamental rule that any instance of TestCase can be
safely run in isolation, secure in the knowledge that it will set
itself up and tear itself down as required. There are usually
(always?) superior alternatives to module-level setUp, so I wouldn't
suggest encouraging it by providing a sanctioned mechanism.

Also, I'd note that assert_() or similar may still be needed: it is
provided as a preferred alternative to the assert() built-in because
the latter stops working if you run Python with the -O switch, which
might be a reasonable thing to do with a test suite.

Aside from these points, everything else looks great to me. Better
"diff-style" output for assertEquals of strings etc. has been lacking
for ages, as well as collection-oriented assertions.

-Steve

P.S. Hi all!

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