Characterization Tests
In his excellent book Working Effectively with Legacy Code [Fea04], Michael Feathers talks about two different types of tests, which he calls specification tests and characterization tests.
Specification tests are the ones we’ve been talking about throughout this book. They check that the code does what it’s supposed to. Ideally you write them before you write the code itself and use them as a guide to help you get the code into the right shape.
Characterization tests are different. You can think of them more like a science experiment, where you test the properties of a mysterious substance by boiling it or mixing it with other substances to see how it reacts. With characterization tests, the aim is just to understand ...
Get The Cucumber for Java Book now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
