For those who code in PHP must have often faced the challenge of sustaining its performance. But question remains… how to measure its performance and ensure quality??? Well…the answer is PHPUnit( member of Xunit family ). PHPUnit has to be made an integral part of our coding practice as many of us have done in case of JUnit while coding in Java.

Now let’s talk about a full automated testing environment which, can be availed by using PHPUnit. Now, the question arises, why do we need automated tests? Most of the times it has been observed that sometimes even after excellent tests some errors exist. Automated tests lead to dramatic reduction in defects. Thus, you can use some major innovations in terms of designing and associated functionalities. So, you can be sure of good customer relationship and confidence in your coding at the end of the day.

I would like to discuss with you some has resolved set of features that PHPUnit enables a trouble free testing of your codes. Why really would you use PHPUnit? Let’s have a look:

• Easy to learn to write: If it’s hard to learn how to write tests, developers will not learn to write them.

• Easy to write: If tests are not easy to write, developers will not write them.

• Easy to read: Test code should contain no extraneous overhead so that it does not get lost in the noise that surrounds it.

• Easy to execute: The tests should run at the touch of a button and present their results in a clear and unambiguous format.

• Quick to execute: Tests should run fast so they can be run hundred or thousands times a day.

• Isolated: The tests should not affect each other. If the order in which the tests are run changes, the results of the tests should not change.

• Composable: We should be able to run any number or combination of tests together. This is a corollary of isolation.

All of these features are available in PHPUnit. However there are more that the PHPUnit offers:

• PHPUnit attempts to resolve any type of read and write conflicts by using PHP as the testing language.

• You can perform isolated tests on PHPUnit. Isolated tests are valuable because they provide high-quality feedback. This orientation towards isolated tests encourages designs with a large number of simple objects. Each object can be tested quickly in isolation. The result is better designs and faster tests.

• The moment that a test fails the execution of the test stops and PHPUnit reports the failure. It is an art to test by running in many small tests. Fine-grained tests improve the overall design of the system.

Have more to say on PHPUnit? Say it here!

For more on the subject…stay tuned!!!