Unit Test

Unit testing is a software verification and validation method in which a programmer tests if individual units of source code are fit for use. A unit is the smallest testable part of an application. In procedural programming a unit may be an individual function or procedure.

Unit tests are typically written and run by software developers to ensure that code meets its design and behaves as intended.

The primary goal of unit testing is to take the smallest piece of testable software in the application, isolate it from the remainder of the code, and determine whether it behaves exactly as you expect. Each unit is tested separately before integrating them into modules to test the interfaces between modules. Unit testing has proven its value in that a large percentage of defects are identified during its use.

The most common approach to unit testing requires drivers and stubs to be written. The driver simulates a calling unit and the stub simulates a called unit. The investment of developer time in this activity sometimes results in demoting unit testing to a lower level of priority and that is almost always a mistake. Even though the drivers and stubs cost time and money, unit testing provides some undeniable advantages. It allows for automation of the testing process, reduces difficulties of discovering errors contained in more complex pieces of the application, and test coverage is often enhanced because attention is given to each unit.


For example, if you have two units and decide it would be more cost effective to glue them together and initially test them as an integrated unit, an error could occur in a variety of places:
1) Is the error due to a defect in unit 1?
2) Is the error due to a defect in unit 2?
3) Is the error due to defects in both units?
4) Is the error due to a defect in the interface between the units?
5) Is the error due to a defect in the test?
Finding the error (or errors) in the integrated module is much more complicated than first isolating the units, testing each, then integrating them and testing the whole.