JUnit in Action [Paperback]

Vincent Massol (Author), Ted Husted (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1930110995 | ISBN-13: 978-1930110991 | Publication Date: October 1, 2003

A guide to unit testing Java applications (including J2EE applications) using the JUnit framework and its extensions, this book provides techniques for solving real-world problems such as unit testing legacy applications, writing real tests for real objects, automating tests, testing in isolation, and unit testing J2EE and database applications. Using a sample-driven approach, various unit testing strategies are covered, such as how to unit test EJBs, database applications, JSPs, and Taglibs. Also addressed are testing strategies using freely available open source frameworks and tools, and how to unit test in isolation with Mock Objects. Testing J2EE applications by running tests from inside the container for performing integration unit tests is discussed, as is how to automate unit testing in automated builds (such as Ant and Maven) for performing continuous integration.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

In addition to being an active member of the Maven development team, Vincent Massol is the creator of the Jakarta Cactus framework. After having spent four years as a technical architect on several major projects (mostly J2EE), Vincent is now the co-founder and CTO of Pivolis, a company specializing in applying agile methodologies to offshore software development. He lives in the City of Light, Paris, France.

Vincent Massol is the creator of the Jakarta Cactus framework and an active member of the Maven, Gump, Struts, and MockObjects development teams. He is the cofounder and CTO of Pivolis, a company that specializes in applying agile methodologies to offshore software development. Ted Husted is an active member of the Struts development team and the manager of the JGuru Struts Forum. His most recent development project uses test-driven design throughout and is available as open source [wqdata]. He is the author of "Struts in Action," He lives in Fairport, New York

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Manning Publications (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930110995
• ISBN-13: 978-1930110991
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 7.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #519,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A quality and indepth view into the world of Unit Testing, November 20, 2003

By 

Dion G Almaer (Cambridge) - See all my reviews

This review is from: JUnit in Action (Paperback)

When I first started to read JUnit in Action, I was hoping that it wouldn't be a tutorial on the open source tool JUnit. I am glad to say that it is much more. I think the book's name could really be "Testing in Practice". Sure, JUnit is covered in a lot of detail, but so are other tools such as:

- Integration with: Ant, Maven, and Eclipse
- Mock Objects (via both EasyMock and DynaMock)
- Cactus for testing in a container
- And other small helper tools (nice ant tasks, etc.)

What made me really enjoy this book is the way it is written, coupled with the practical look at the many technologies involved in testing. It is a fresh read, that doesn't get bogged down. The book flows really well, giving you best practices throughout. They don't just say "Do X", they actually show you where these best practices come from as they refactor their own code. You are really aware that these authors know their stuff, and are drawing from a lot of experience (compared to the online FAQs).

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars the first edition was better, August 20, 2010

By 

Jeanne Boyarsky (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: JUnit in Action (Paperback)

I truly enjoyed reading the first edition of "JUnit in Action" and was somewhat disappointed by the second edition. It wasn't even that the second edition was bad. It's that my expectations were too high from the first edition.

I think there were too many authors on the book. The different styles were apparent which is awkward in a book. The cover says the book covers JUnit 4.8 while the contents of the book are JUnit 4.6. (This one is probably marketing's fault, but it stands out extra on a book about quality.)

I also think the scope of the book was too large. Many things are covered, but not enough things are covered well. I expect a book titled "JUnit in Action" to cover the core of JUnit well. While most things were mentioned, there were only 3 pages on Hamcrest matchers. I felt other core concepts were breezed through and not enough space was spent on the fundamentals. The first edition had more pages on core JUnit and there was less to cover then!

I was also surprised not to see Mockito mentioned in the mock testing section or Emma in the coverage section. Not featured, mind you. Just mentioned. And finally, I found one factual error that I consider significant because it is a fallacy. I posted it in the Manning forum 8/3 and haven't received a reply. Nor have many people who posted since May or beyond. Why is there a forum if nobody reads it?

Many things were done well - examples, best practices, available tools. I just had the bar so high from the previous edition that I was let down.

If you already own the first edition or are familiar with what is out there, you don't need this book. If you've never done anything in JUnit, it is still useful. Just remember that the order unit tests are run is not guaranteed!

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Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of JavaRanch.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A joy to read but..., February 20, 2005

By 

Riccardo Audano (Chiavari, Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: JUnit in Action (Paperback)

This book is required reading for any professional Java developer. Even if you are not convinced of the benefits of test driven development and unit testing you owe it to yourself to check what this is all about. This book will serve as a very hands-on introduction to a lot of APIs, libraries and techniques in the field of unit and integration testing. My only complaint is that it tries to cover too many subjects in too little space. The introductory part on JUnit is superb. I found the treatment of Cactus, surprisingly, too superficial (Vincent Massol is the cactus creator) : the author makes you first (after a brief interlude with Jetty) run the cactus test using Maven, and that would be ok with me if he gave a through introduction to this tool, but instead all you get is a "run the tests typing maven cactus:test". Now this kind of monkey work is not what an intelligent developer loves to do.. and besides when things go even slightly wrong (and you know they will...) you are left clueless. You also get a chance to run cactus tests with ant but the treatment is not general enough to give you a solid understanding of this procedure. Anyhow after reading this book you will be much more competent on software development best practice and testing, but probably wondering if, having to learn and employ all these tools and APIs, unit testing is still useful or is monstrously transforming into a heavy and complex part of your application...