What are the Qualities of a Good Test?

What is a good test? How do we know if we're writing good tests?

Kent Beck posited, that tests should be:

1. Isolated (unaffected by the presence, absence, or results of other tests)
2. Automated
3. Quick to write
4. Quick to run
5. Unique (providing confidence not provided by other tests/uncorrelated
   with other tests)

Roy Osherove adds that good tests have three fundamental properties: maintainable, trustworthy and readable.

Mike Hill has much longer list:

• It is short, typically under a dozen lines of code.
• It does not test the object inside the running app, but instead in a purpose-built testing application.
• It invokes only a tiny portion of the code, most usually a single branch of a single function.
• It is written gray-box, i.e. it reads as if it were black-box, but sometimes takes advantage of white-box knowledge. (Typically a critical factor in avoiding combinatoric issues.)
• It is coded to the same standard as shipping code, i.e. the team's best current understanding of coding excellence.
• In combination with all other microtests of an app, it serves as a 'gateway-to-commit'. That is, a developer is encouraged to commit anytime all microtests run green, and discouraged (strongly, even nastily) to commit otherwise.
• It takes complete control of the object-under-test and is therefore self-contained, i.e. running with no dependencies on anything other than the testing code and its dependency graph.
• It runs in an extremely short time.
• It is generally written before the code-change it is meant to test.
• It avoids most or all usage of 'awkward' collaborators via a variety of slip-and-fake techniques.
• ...

Mike and Ron Jeffries remind us that the key value of TDD is simplifying design and improving productivity. Improvements in code quality and a reduction in bugs are an important side effect.

Jeremy Miller adds that good unit tests should be:

• Order Independent and Isolated - it should be possible to run the tests in whatever order the test runner chooses.
• Intention Revealing - the best unit tests make it clear to the reader how an objects API is intended to be used.
• Easy to Setup

Finally Ed Burnette writes: Make your unit tests repeatable in every aspect; Test your boundary conditions and Always keep your tests passing at 100%.