Unit testing

Software Engineering Principles in Python

Adam Spannbauer

Machine Learning Engineer at Eastman

Why testing?

Confirm code is working as intended
Ensure changes in one function don't break another
Protect against changes in a dependency

Testing in Python

doctest
pytest

pytest logo

Using doctest

def square(x):
    """Square the number x

    :param x: number to square
    :return: x squared

    >>> square(3)
    9
    """
    return x ** 3



import doctest
doctest.testmod()

Failed example:
    square(3)
Expected:
    9
Got:
    27

pytest structure

Test Structure

pytest structure

Test Structure

Writing unit tests

working in workdir/tests/test_document.py

from text_analyzer import Document


# Test tokens attribute on Document object
def test_document_tokens():
    doc = Document('a e i o u')

    assert doc.tokens == ['a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u']


# Test edge case of blank document
def test_document_empty():
    doc = Document('')

    assert doc.tokens == []
    assert doc.word_counts == Counter()

Writing unit tests

# Create 2 identical Document objects
doc_a = Document('a e i o u')
doc_b = Document('a e i o u')

# Check if objects are ==
print(doc_a == doc_b)

# Check if attributes are ==
print(doc_a.tokens == doc_b.tokens)
print(doc_a.word_counts == doc_b.word_counts)

False

True
True

Running pytest

working with terminal

datacamp@server:~/work_dir $ pytest

collected 2 items

tests/test_document.py ..                     [100%]

========== 2 passed in 0.61 seconds ==========

Running pytest

working with terminal

datacamp@server:~/work_dir $ pytest tests/test_document.py

collected 2 items

tests/test_document.py ..                     [100%]

========== 2 passed in 0.61 seconds ==========

Failing tests

working with terminal

datacamp@server:~/work_dir $ pytest

collected 2 items

tests/test_document.py F.

============== FAILURES ==============
________ test_document_tokens ________

def test_document_tokens(): doc = Document('a e i o u')

assert doc.tokens == ['a', 'e', 'i', 'o']
E AssertionError: assert ['a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u'] == ['a', 'e', 'i', 'o']
E Left contains more items, first extra item: 'u'
E Use -v to get the full diff

tests/test_document.py:7: AssertionError
====== 1 failed in 0.57 seconds ======

Let's Practice

Software Engineering Principles in Python