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QA-Unit Tests vs. Agile-Unit Tests

The definitive guide to understand how much different Agile testing is from traditional testing.

David Rodenas PhD

Recently, I published an article mentioning the existence of two kinds of unit tests: Agile-Unit Tests and QA-Unit Tests. Unfortunately, this naming is mine, and although both techniques have very different focuses, the practitioners of each one use the same term for both of them: “Unit Test”. That leads to lots of misunderstandings and problems. And it also makes very hard to learn the other one. Specially the Agile-Unit Tests. In this article, I will talk about the different kinds of tests, what are each one good for, and I hope to help you to understand the value of each one.

Living The Misunderstanding

But, before starting, I want to show you a conversation between Jim Coplien and Robert C. Martin in which they cannot communicate because each one give a different meaning to Unit Test. One is a practitioner of QA-Unit Tests, while the other is a practitioner of Agile-Unit Tests (note that Robert C. Martin is one of the creators of the Agile Manifesto). The video is old (and the quality bad), but it was a response from Jim Coplien to Robert C. Martin about the need of following TDD as an ethical principle for every developer.

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David Rodenas PhD
David Rodenas PhD

Written by David Rodenas PhD

Passionate software engineer & storyteller. Sharing knowledge to advance our skills. Join me on a journey of discovery in the world of software engineering.

Responses (1)

What are your thoughts?

This is an excellent explanation of testing. No matter what you call it. Testing is important and transition to align to agile practices is powerful. However most that I've worked with that are transitioning really struggle with agile testing cause…