Testing in Python 3 - unittest, doctest and __name__ == __main__ too.
Python's
doctest modules takes an interactive session pasted into your documentations string, analyses it and reruns the Python code you used in your session ... telling you whether you're still getting the same results or not.
Firstly, it's a great way of copying tests you've done and recording the for re-use later, so that you can check whether you've damaged anything / changed behaviours when you've enhanced / updated / debugged your code later
Secondly, it's a great way of describing what your results SHOULD be and then being able to run code to make sure that you've actually acheieved your requirement ("met the specification") - that's
test driven development.
There's a working examples that passes tests
[here] and one that fails
[here]. The class I tested may be found
[here]. The doctest example should work in Python 2 and Python 3. The test class has been implemented / tested in Python 3.4.
• As well as using
doctest, you can include a test harness within your individually imported modules using
if __name__ == "__main__":
and such a test is included in the class we're using in this module (
[here])
• A much heavier test suite -
unittest - is also available in Python. There's an example of that in use to test out train class / module - see
[here].
On our public
public Python courses, we cover testing, introduce test driven development, and stress the importance of testing. On private courses, we can tailor what we present but we strongly encourage you to include coverage of this important subject.
(written 2015-04-21, updated 2015-04-22)
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
Y300 - Python 3 - What is new, what's changed and why [753] Python 3000 - the next generation - (2006-06-09)
[1788] Python 2 to Python 3 / Python 3000 / Py3k - (2008-09-07)
[1791] The road ahead - Python 3 - (2008-09-10)
[2277] Python classes / courses - what version do we train on? - (2009-07-10)
[2285] Great new diagrams for our notes ... Python releases - (2009-07-13)
[2559] Moving the product forward - ours, and MySQL, Perl, PHP and Python too - (2010-01-01)
[2778] Learning to program in Python 2 ... and / or in Python 3 - (2010-05-24)
[2871] Moving from Python 2.6 to Python 3 - (2010-07-14)
[4469] Sorting in Python 3 - and how it differs from Python 2 sorting - (2015-04-20)
[4590] Progress on moving from Python 2 to Python 3 - training for both versions - (2015-12-01)
[4649] Object and Static methods - what is the difference; example in Python 3 - (2016-02-17)
[4650] Why populate object with values as you construct them? - (2016-02-18)
[4711] Convering from Python 2 to Python 3 - an update, and the 2to3 utility - (2016-10-30)
[4712] A reminder of the key issues to consider in moving from Python 2 to Python 3 - (2016-10-30)
Y212 - Python - Code testing, patterns, profiles and optimisation. [235] Preparation for a day's work - (2005-03-04)
[1140] Python GTK - Widget, Packing, Event and Feedback example - (2007-04-09)
[1146] __new__ v __init__ - python constructor alternatives? - (2007-04-14)
[1148] Python decorators - wrapping a method call in extra code - (2007-04-15)
[1555] Advanced Python, Perl, PHP and Tcl training courses / classes - (2008-02-25)
[2123] Using Python with OpenOffice - (2009-04-09)
[2616] Defining a static method - Java, Python and Ruby - (2010-02-01)
[3441] Pressing ^C in a Python program. Also Progress Bar. - (2011-09-15)
[3442] A demonstration of how many Python facilities work together - (2011-09-16)
[3464] Passing optional and named parameters to python methods - (2011-10-04)
[3478] Testing your Python classes with the unittest package - how to - (2011-10-14)
[3658] Using Make for a distribution - (2012-03-17)
[4090] Test Driven Development in Python - Customer Comes First - (2013-05-16)
[4326] Learning to program - comments, documentation and test code - (2014-11-22)
[4344] Python base and inherited classes, test harness and unit testing - new examples - (2014-12-07)
[4446] Combining tests into suites, and suites into bigger suites - Python and unittest - (2015-03-01)
[4538] Flask and unittest - hello web app test world - (2015-10-15)
[4540] Unittest of a Flask application including forms - (2015-10-15)
[4542] The principle of mocking - and the Python Mock package - (2015-10-17)
[4617] Pytest - starting example - (2016-01-07)
[4618] Pytest - second example beyond hello world - (2016-01-08)
[4716] Profiling your Python program - (2016-11-01)
Some other Articles
Effect on external factors on traffic to our web sites - an updateFishguard to Melksham - third part of Dublin journeyRosslare to Fishguard - foot passenger on the ferryLeopardstown to Rosslare by trainTesting in Python 3 - unittest, doctest and __name__ == __main__ too.Four in a Bed - most popular answersNeighbourhood Plan - travel and transport thoughtsMoving from C to C++ - Structured to Object Oriented - a lesson for engineersSockets, time handling and keyboard interrupt handling in C