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copied!<p>Don't go down the dark path Master Luke. :) Don't mock everything. You could but you shouldn't... here's why.</p> <ul> <li>If you continue to test each method in isolation, you have surprises and work cut out for you when you bring them all together ala the <strong>BIG BANG</strong>. We build objects so that they can work together to solve a bigger problem.. By themselves they are insignificant. You <strong>need to know if all the collaborators are working as expected</strong>.</li> <li>Mocks <strong>make tests brittle</strong> by introducing duplication - Yes I know that sounds alarming. For every mock expect you setup, there are n places where your method signature exists. The actual code and your mock expectations (in multiple tests). Changing actual code is easier... updating all the mock expectations is tedious. </li> <li>Your <strong>test is now privy to insider implementation information</strong>. So your test depends on how you chose to implement the solution... bad. Tests should be a independent spec that can be met by multiple solutions. I should have the freedom to just press delete on a block of code and reimplement <strong>without</strong> having to rewrite the test suite.. coz the requirements still stay the same.</li> </ul> <p>To close, I'll say "If it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, then it probably is a duck" - If it feels wrong.. it probably is. *Use mocks to abstract out problem children like IO operations, databases, third party components and the like.. Like salt, some of it is necessary.. too much and :x *<br> This is the holy war of State based vs Iteraction based testing.. Googling will give you deeper insight.</p> <p>Clarification: I'm hitting some resistance w.r.t. integration tests here :) So to clarify my stand.. </p> <ul> <li>Mocks do not figure in the 'Acceptance tests'/Integration realm. You'll only find them in the Unit Testing world.. and that is my focus here.</li> <li>Acceptance tests are different and are <strong>very much</strong> needed - not belittling them. But Unit tests and Acceptance tests are different and should be kept different.</li> <li>All collaborators within a component or package do not need to be isolated from each other.. Like micro-optimization that is Overkill. They exist to solve a problem <strong>together</strong>.. cohesion. </li> </ul>

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