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title:
  - value: |
      Writing good automated test names
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  - value: '2022-11-15T00:00:00+00:00'
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      <p>Something that I often see in code examples or tutorials are test methods like <code>testGet</code> or <code>testAdd</code>, or <code>testSubtract</code>. Short method names that don't describe the scenario that they're testing in much detail.</p>

      <p>What if a <code>get</code> method returns different types of value based on the input or a string is passed into a calculator method like <code>add</code> or <code>subtract</code>?</p>

      <p>I'd assume that the result of the calculation returns the total, but the test method doesn't say this.</p>

      <p>I'd rather be overly descriptive and write methods like <code>should_add_two_or_more_numbers_and_return_the_total()</code> rather than <code>testAdd</code>. It's a lot more readable and easier to see what the intention of the test is, and it's much better to use longer descriptive names when using options like <code>--testdox</code> with PHPUnit, which converts the method name into a sentence, which is what I do when running tests in CI pipelines.</p>

      <p>Something that I've picked up and recommend is to start each test case with the word "It" or "Should". This gives it a more behavioural feel and puts you in the mindset of what you're testing and not the methods that you're executing.</p>

      <p>A method like 'testAdd' might make sense within a unit test focusing on a single class and method, but as I usually do outside-in testing - which mostly uses functional and integration tests - this approach works well for me.</p>

              
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      <p>Something that I often see in code examples or tutorials are test methods like <code>testGet</code> or <code>testAdd</code>, or <code>testSubtract</code>. Short method names that don't describe the scenario that they're testing in much detail.</p>

      <p>What if a <code>get</code> method returns different types of value based on the input or a string is passed into a calculator method like <code>add</code> or <code>subtract</code>?</p>

      <p>I'd assume that the result of the calculation returns the total, but the test method doesn't say this.</p>

      <p>I'd rather be overly descriptive and write methods like <code>should_add_two_or_more_numbers_and_return_the_total()</code> rather than <code>testAdd</code>. It's a lot more readable and easier to see what the intention of the test is, and it's much better to use longer descriptive names when using options like <code>--testdox</code> with PHPUnit, which converts the method name into a sentence, which is what I do when running tests in CI pipelines.</p>

      <p>Something that I've picked up and recommend is to start each test case with the word "It" or "Should". This gives it a more behavioural feel and puts you in the mindset of what you're testing and not the methods that you're executing.</p>

      <p>A method like 'testAdd' might make sense within a unit test focusing on a single class and method, but as I usually do outside-in testing - which mostly uses functional and integration tests - this approach works well for me.</p>

              
    summary: null
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