Software Testing Practices

Arrange-Act-Assert (AAA)

A standard pattern for structuring unit tests into setup (Arrange), execution (Act), and verification (Assert).

Unit Testing

Automated testing focused on isolating and verifying individual methods or small units of code in isolation.

Test Double

An umbrella term for objects used in unit testing to replace production dependencies (e.g., Stubs, Mocks, Fakes).

Stub

A test double that returns hard-coded, predefined responses to satisfy expected data dependencies during a test.

Mock

A test double configured to verify specific interactions, method calls, or invocation counts made by the system under test.

Fake

A test double with a simplified, working implementation (like an in-memory list database) that is not production-ready.

Acceptance Testing

End-to-end testing focused on verifying that a complete system meets specified business requirements and user expectations.

System Integration Testing (SIT)

Testing that verifies correct communication, data flow, and interactions across multiple software modules or APIs.

Regression Testing

Re-running automated test suites after code changes to ensure existing functionality remains unbroken.