Test-Driven JavaScript Development (Developer's Library) [Paperback]

Christian Johansen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0321683919 | ISBN-13: 978-0321683915 | Edition: 1

For JavaScript developers working on increasingly large and complex projects, effective automated testing is crucial to success. Test-Driven JavaScript Development is a complete, best-practice guide to agile JavaScript testing and quality assurance with the test-driven development (TDD) methodology. Leading agile JavaScript developer Christian Johansen covers all aspects of applying state-of-the-art automated testing in JavaScript environments, walking readers through the entire development lifecycle, from project launch to application deployment, and beyond.

Using real-life examples driven by unit tests, Johansen shows how to use TDD to gain greater confidence in your code base, so you can fearlessly refactor and build more robust, maintainable, and reliable JavaScript code at lower cost. Throughout, he addresses crucial issues ranging from code design to performance optimization, offering realistic solutions for developers, QA specialists, and testers.

Coverage includes
•    Understanding automated testing and TDD
•    Building effective automated testing workflows
•    Testing code for both browsers and servers (using Node.js)
•    Using TDD to build cleaner APIs, better modularized code, and more robust software
•    Writing testable code
•    Using test stubs and mocks to test units in isolation
•    Continuously improving code through refactoring
•    Walking through the construction and automated testing of fully functional software

The accompanying Web site, tddjs.com, contains all of the book’s code listings and additional resources.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A simplified and well-explained book about one of the most underestimated parts of any application life-cycle. Christian Johansen brings real world examples, simple to advanced, and a useful library together in one place. I couldn’t expect more from Test-Driven JavaScript Development. Excellent learning and definitively easy to read.”

—Andrea Giammarchi, lead developer, NOKIA Gate 5 GmbH

 

“A great mix of theory and practical examples makes this a good read for both newcomers to JavaScript/TDD and seasoned JavaScripters wanting to add to their skill set.”

—Jacob Seidelin, freelance web developer, Nihilogic

About the Author

Christian Johansen works for Shortcut AS, a software company focusing on open source technology, Web, and mobile applications. Originally a student in informatics, mathematics, and digital signal processing, he has spent his professional career specializing in Web and front-end development with technologies such as JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. A frequent open source contributor, he blogs about JavaScript, Ruby, and Web development at cjohansen.no.

Product Details

• Paperback: 600 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (September 19, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321683919
• ISBN-13: 978-0321683915
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 1.1 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #296,529 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great source for modern Javascript practices March 9, 2011

By P. Hodgson

Format:Paperback

I initially picked this up hoping to learn some stuff about the mechanics of unit-testing in javascript, and maybe some stuff about how to organize your javascript in a testable way. I was very pleasantly surprised to find a book which covers way more.

You'll learn about the fundamentals of modern functional javascript. You'll discover that it's not class-based OO and that functions, closures and object literals are your building blocks.

You'll see some neat, slightly mind-bending way of implementing things. A tiny example - why not keep track of whether a stub function has been called by just setting a bool on the stub function itself!

Most of all, you'll see that it's very feasible to develop real grown-up software using a true test-driven-DESIGN approach using javascript. You'll also get the benefit of being walked through a load of deep, hands-on practical examples covering both server-side JS, client-side DOM-based JS. This material can be pretty dense; I expect to re-read most of the book again at some point.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars So far so good November 25, 2010

By George Jempty

Format:Paperback

Unlike the first reviewer I've actually begun reading this book. Based on the first 2.5 chapters I can tell you without reservation that this author is quite knowledgeable about both Javascript and Test-driven development (TDD). Not only is the book technically excellent in this regard, but the author is also not afraid to state his opinion and challenge conventional wisdom, for instance when addressing the oft-misunderstood issue of temporarily hard-coding data to make tests pass. Furthermore, if you have comments or questions about the book in other online forums such as a blog, the author is very quick to respond. Addendum: having pretty much completed the entire book I will add, there is much excellent introductory material regarding Ecmascript 5 included.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good JavaScript Book December 3, 2010

By Jim McGaw

Format:Paperback

I'm a Django web developer, and like most of us, the unit test coverage for my projects ends where the client-side code begins. I found this book to be extremely useful in teaching how to create tests for JavaScript. The book uses JsTestDriver, which I had never heard of before the book, but is an amazing cross-browser test runner.

The book is written in three parts. The first is an overview of TDD, the second covers JavaScript as a programming language, and third talks about how to integrate JavaScript testing into a project. The first part is short, and the third is, naturally, the meat of the book. The second part, which introduces JavaScript, seems superfluous given the intended audience. It's a good refresher, but the third part builds upon the second one, so part two can't be skipped. It would have been great if the second and third parts would have been more decoupled.

Besides that, is there any web developer that wouldn't benefit from learning how to treat JavaScript as a real soup-to-nuts programming language?