alt Hacker NewsWhat is the alternative? If you write a complete implementation of an interface for test purposes, can you actually be certain that your version of x.isEmpty() behaves as the actual method? If it has not been used before, can you trust that a green test is valid without manually checking it?
When I use mocking, I try to always use real objects as return values. So if I mock a repository method, like userRepository.search(...) I would return an actual list and not a mocked object. This has worked well for me. If I actually need to test the db query itself, I use a real db
The alternative to what? Using mocks?
For example, one alternative is to let my IDE implement the interface (I don’t have to “write” a complete implementation), where the default implementations throw “not yet implemented” type exceptions - which clearly indicate that the omitted behavior is not a deliberate part of the test.
Any “mocked” behavior involves writing normal debuggable idiomatic Java code - no need to learn or use a weird DSL to express the behavior of a method body. And it’s far easier to diagnose what’s going on or expected while running the test - instead of the backwards mock approach where failures are typically reported in a non-local manner (test completes and you get unexpected invocation or missing invocation error - where or what should have made the invocation?).
My test implementation can evolve naturally - it’s all normal debuggable idiomatic Java.