Java Testing Weekly 5 / 2016

There are many software development blogs out there, but many of them don't publish testing articles on a regular basis.

Also, I have noticed that some software developers don't read blogs written by software testers.

That is a shame because I think that we can learn a lot from them.

That is why I decided to create a newsletter that shares the best testing articles which I found during the last week.

Let's get started.

Technical Stuff

• Gentle Introduction: Mockito provides a newbie friendly introduction to Mockito. However, it has a section titled: "Caveats and Limits" that is useful to people who are already familiar with Mockito. I love the fact that the author explains why we should not use the @InitMocks and the @Mock annotations. If you want to know the answer to that question, you should read this blog post.
• Getting Started with UI Test Automation provides a lot of links that help you to start writing end-to-end tests. If you haven't been writing end-to-end tests because you don't know how to write them, this is a good place to start.
• Mutation Testing: Watching the Watchmen describes why having a good test coverage is not good enough and provides an introduction to mutation testing that helps you find bugs missed by your unit and integration tests. Mutation testing is a pretty advanced technique, and I must admit that I haven't done it. However, Codecentric's mutation testing tutorial might convince me to change my mind.
• Robot Framework Tutorial 2016 – Remote Server Keywords in Java describes how you can write write your own keywords by using Java programming language, transform your keywords into remote server keywords, and use your new keywords This blog post is a good addition to Codecentric's new Robot Framework tutorial. I can recommend it to anyone who is interested in this topic.
• Using the LoadableComponent pattern for better Page Object handling in Selenium describes how you can provide a standardized way for "loading" the tested page and verifying that all the required components are present before the actual test code is invoked. This is an excellent blog post because it identifies a common problem that makes Selenium tests messy and error prone and helps you to solve it in a clean way.

The Really Valuable Stuff

• A Context-Driven Approach to Automation in Testing introduces a paper that helps you to identify the problems of test automation tools and use them in a helpful and productive way. This paper has 26 pages but I can assure you that reading this paper is a time well spent.
• Assisting with inquiries: Part 2 – the mechanics of reporting provides an introduction to the mechanics of reporting. In other words, it helps you to understand that making a discovery is just a start. If you cannot report this information in an effective way, your discovery is basically worthless. Also, I loved the example which proved that effective communication can save lives (literally).
• Outdated testing concepts #3 - The cult to automation explains why automated testing cannot replace testing that is done by humans. I have talked with (too) many people who don't understand this, and I have noticed that these people don't understand that: automated tests do not really interact with the system under test AND automated tests have a cost that is sometimes too high. I suggest that the next time when you talk with a person, who believes in this myth, you should show this blog post to her/him.
• Reinventing Testing: What is Integration Testing? (part 2) provides a very interesting and comprehensive definition to the term: integration testing. This is one of those epic blog posts that you almost never see. You should do yourself a favor and read this blog post (read the comments as well).
• Shame in not becoming a speaker is not actually a testing post, but since it has a very important message, I decided to include it anyway. I think that it is a disgrace that the author is feeling shame because some conference organizers force speakers to wait for their money. I think that speakers should be paid right after the conference is over and travel expenses (airline tickets, hotels, etc) should be paid in advance.
• The Siren Call of Automated Browser Testing explains why automated browser tests might do more harm than good if you start writing them too early, write too many of them, or write them in the wrong way. I think that automated browser tests are useful, but you will still need testers AND you still need to write unit and integration tests as well.
• Why TDD should not be controversial tries to crush some of the common arguments that are used to explain why TDD doesn't make any sense. I know that this is a very controversial topic, and the odds are that you might not agree with the author. However, you should read this blog post even if you think that TDD is useless because it gives you an opportunity to learn from a person who disagrees with you.

It's Time for Feedback

Because I want to make this newsletter worth your time, I am asking you to help me make it better.

• If you have any feedback about this newsletter, share your thoughts on the comment section.
• If you have written a blog post about automated testing or software testing, ping me on Twitter.
• You can share this blog post on Twitter.

P.S. If you want to make sure that you don't ever miss Java Testing Weekly, you should subscribe my newsletter.