Gerard Meszaros, Author of xUnit Test Patterns - Refactoring Test Code

Gerard Meszaros is an independent software development consultant with 25 years experience in software and a nearly a decade of experience applying agile methods. He is a thought leader in agile user stories, agile usability, test automation patterns, refactoring of software and tests, and design for testability and has applied automated unit and acceptance testing on projects ranging from full-on eXtreme Programming to traditional waterfall development in wide range of industries. He is also a leading expert in the implementation and customization of agile methods such as Scrum and eXtreme Programming and has been one of the early proponents of including usability practices on agile projects. He is the author of "xUnit Test Patterns - Refactoring Test Code".

Presentation: "xUnit Test Patterns - Refactoring Test Code to Improve ROI"

Track: Essential Development Skills

Time: Monday 16:15 - 17:15

Location: Store Sal

Abstract: Test code performs a very important function but it quickly becomes a liability if it is not easy to understand and maintain. Well-written test code not only tells us when the production code isn't working properly, it also clearly describes the design requirements of the production code. Gerard illustrates how we can refactor complex test code to make it easier to understand by looking for test smells and applying simple test patterns.

Level: Beginner-Intermediatee

Keywords: Unit Testing, Java, .Net, Patterns, Smells, TDD

Workshop: "XUnit Test Patterns and Smells; Improving Test Code Through Refactoring"

Track: Tutorial

Time: Friday 09:00 - 12:00

Location: C103 Music Hall

Abstract:

XUnit is the generic name given to the family of tools/frameworks used by developers when developing automated unit tests. JUnit, NUnit, MsTest and CppUnit are some of the better known members of the family. High quality automated unit tests are one of the key development practices that enable incremental development and delivery of software. This tutorial provides the participants with a vocabulary of smells and patterns with which to reason about the quality of their test code and a set of reusable test code design patterns that can be used to eliminate the smells. This will help you write robust, repeatable automated tests that are easy to understand and maintain.

Keywords: Java, .NET, Patterns, Smells, Test Automation, JUnit, NUnit, xUnit

Target audience: Will be of most interest to developers, development leads, coaches and architects working (or wanting to learn to work) in a Test-First or Test-Driven Development environment. While some exposure and prior usage of one of the members of the XUnit family of test automation frameworks (e.g. JUnit, VbUnit, RUnit, CppUnit, etc.) is beneficial, even people new to automated testing using XUnit will get benefits. It is not, however, an introduction to the use of XUnit in general or any one member of the family in particular.