Re: Gtk+ unit tests (brainstorming)

["Dimi Paun" <dimi lattica com>]

On Mon, October 30, 2006 9:34 am, Tim Janik wrote:
>>  - based on how nautilus does unit tests, I put the tests in the file
>>    with the code being tested. The rationale is similar to the
>>    rationale for inline documentation. I think it's a good approach,
>>    but it does require a distinct "test build" (DBUS_BUILD_TESTS).
>
> sounds interesting as well. the downsize is of course the assorted
> file growth, and gtk+ already isn't a particularly good citizen in
> terms of loc per file ;)

The problem with documentation is that it is only maintained by humans,
so the only way to have a hope of consistency is to have it close to the
code that it is documenting.

Tests do not benefit that much, since any consistency problem will simply
result in a very evident test failure. As long as you never allow tests
to fail, you simply do not have the problem that inline documentation is
trying to solve.

Moreover, tests tend to be long winded and ugly looking, and I find the
additional cruft they add to be rather distracting.

I submit that due to their nature, they work out better in separate files.

-- 
Dimi Paun <dimi lattica com>
Lattica, Inc.