Comment by aurareturn
9 hours ago
I don't write any unit tests. Instead, I only do integration/system tests.
At the end of the day, I need to know that the system works and does what it is suppose to do. Unit tests adds too much complexity in my opinion and isn't worth it.
Kent Beck, credited with coining the term "unit test", defines unit tests as tests that run without affecting other tests. In other words, unit tests are tests that do not introduce side-effects. I suggest that if you are writing anything other than unit tests, as originally defined, in this day of age, you are doing something horribly wrong. Side-effects is how you end up with tests that randomly break, which is a nightmare for those running them. A good software steward would not deem that acceptable.
I've seen some other definitions out there, but they didn't make any sense. Obviously someone was trolling in those cases. Presumably you were thinking of one of them? Absolutely you wouldn't write tests that don't make any sense. I am not sure why anyone would.