Pragmatic Unit Testing in C# with NUnit, 2nd Edition [Paperback]

Andy Hunt (Author), Dave Thomas (Author), Matt Hargett (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The NIST estimates that poor testing costs the US economy $60 billion annually. This book gives teams straightforward and proven ways to introduce unit testing into their process, resulting in higher quality and fewer bugs.

All over the world, software teams are using unit testing both to verify their code and as a way of helping them design better code. This book is unique in the way it covers two aspects: showing developers both how to test and helping them determine what to test.

New in the second edition:

• Updated for NUnit 2.4 (.NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005)
• More assert methods
• New String and Collection assertion support
• Better support for multiple-platform development
• Higher-level setup and teardown fixtures
• Whole new chapter on extending NUnit
• and more!

About the Author

Dave Thomas and original co-author Andy Hunt are founders of the Pragmatic Programmers and the Pragmatic Bookshelf.

McGraw-Hill authors represent the leading experts in their fields and are dedicated to improving the lives, careers, and interests of readers worldwide

Product Details

• Paperback: 239 pages
• Publisher: Pragmatic Bookshelf; 2 edition (August 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977616673
• ISBN-13: 978-0977616671
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 7.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #641,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear and concise, June 27, 2005

By	Scott D. Duncan (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Pragmatic Unit Testing in C# with NUnit (Pragmatic Programmers) (Paperback)

The message of this book is: responsible developers unit test, and it's easy to do, so do it! If you're tired of reading 800 page books that should've been 200 pages, then you will find this book a refreshing change. It gets straight to the point, explaining in an easy-to-read style how to unit test .NET applications, including how to install & use the popular NUnit & NMock tools. It also explains how to design effective unit tests, and what to do in common problem situations (such as incomplete requirements). It is a great first book on unit testing for .NET, but since it is a pragmatic guide it does not cover the more esoteric, quirky issues you may run into. It also does not discuss or promote test-driven development techniques and theories. It is strictly a nuts & bolts discussion of .NET unit testing with NUnit & NMock, but if you need to be unit testing today (not next month), then this is the book to get.

33 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Over-extended and over-rated., March 23, 2008

By	Dave R (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pragmatic Unit Testing in C# with NUnit, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

I have to respectfully disagree with all the fawning reviews. It's a chatty, drawn out, tedious read, something of an accomplishment given the fact that it's only ~200 pages long. Frankly, anything more then something like the O'Reilly Pocket Reference is overkill on this subject. NUnit is a snap to use and the freely available documentation and tutorials are more than adequate and not nearly so time-consuming to digest.

The first passage that discusses actual test coding (~20 pages or so into the book) presents a simple case where a method should accept an integer array as a parameter and return the largest element. The book then explains how this function, if it behaves properly, should perform. A series of simple test cases are discussed before we get to the real toughie for all you computer scientists out there - a data set consisting of negative integers. A test vector consisting of the array [-9,-8,-7] is passed to the method and -7 is returned. The book explains 'It might look odd, but indeed -7 is larger than -9. We're glad we straightened that out now, rather than in the debugger or in production code where it might not be so obvious.'

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? Just what audience was this thing written for? One would have thought that that little gem wouldn't have been necessary... but in fact that is the tone of the entire book. Expect to have your hand held in this manner throughout. If that's the sort of thing that appeals to you, you'll love this one. If, on the other hand, you're trying to learn to incorporate NUnit testing into C# development in an efficient, professional manner, save your money and time and read the NUnit docs.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but missing critical elements, June 27, 2008

By	jeffery (Somewhere in Kansas, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pragmatic Unit Testing in C# with NUnit, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

This is a decent getting started book, but it doesn't give good coverage of things such as NUnit projects or using app.config files with NUnit.

Unfortunately, this book isn't good as a stand-alone. I'll admit that it did help me get started, but it lacks so much that I can't give it more stars. A second volume that covers more advanced topics is suggested, or the next edition can add the missing parts.