11 - Advantages of using Junit

Due to its simplicity JUnit should be first option when testing the java applications. JUnit can be used separately or integrated with build tools like Maven and Ant and third party extensions, such as

  • dbUnit cor database testing operations
  • xmlUnit which simplifies XML testing ( comparing and evaluating )
  •  other extensions ( see sub chapter 9.2 JUnit extensions ).

JUnit is a worthy tool that every developer should know about and use heavily in the daily work.

During the process of testing the applications developers may face many problems. The flow of an application cannot be tested only using main() method. For example, for a web application if we want to test the flow we need to deploy it on the server and if there is a change in java code the application should be restarted again. Testing time will increase.

Using System.out.println as outputs message will not assure that the result will be collected in a structured way. The user will not be sure if this kind of test passed or not.

JUnit can solve all these issues of testing. JUnit is used to test an actual class. Using JUnit we can save testing time.

In a web application JUnit test cases can be implemented in the DAO classes. This type of classes can be tested without a server.

Struts or Spring type applications allow JUnit to test only DAO classes.

The server is not required to test web applications.

JUnit can be employed to test a hierarchy of program code singularly or as multiple units.

JUnit developed the idea of first testing (design the test case) and then coding that assure setting up of the test data and defining the expected output and then coding. This procedure increases productivity and stability of program code and reduce the time for debugging.

JUnit can catch bugs better than the programmers. Unit testing can prove to be useful. Sometimes a bug is introduced when new features are added or when existing code is changed. This represents regression. JUnit tests over the old code can make us sure that they will still pass and avoid costly regressions.

The development cycle should be:

The most important benefits of JUnit framework are:

·         Simple framework for writing automated, self-verifying tests in Java

·         Support for test assertions

·         Test suite development

·         Immediate test reporting

JUnit provides a text-based command line, also AWT based and Swing based graphical test reporting mechanism.

More Application Developer integrated development platforms (IDE) includes JUnit(Eclipse).

For application server’s containers the open source community has extended the JUnit by implementing a JUnitEE test framework that enables JUnit tests within the application server’s container.

JUnit is widely adopted by organizations around the world for performing unit testing in Java programming language.

JUnit has become a standard for testing in Java programming language and it is supported by almost all the IDE’s.

JUnit is one of the best testing frameworks that can be selected for an efficient testing process.

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