¿Cómo evitar el exceso de burla o exceso de golpes en las pruebas ágiles?

In my experience, these things makes a big difference 1. Focus on End-to-End Tests for Core Features: Prioritize real-world end-to-end tests over excessive mocking for critical features, ensuring the full user experience is tested. 2. Limit Mocking in Unit Tests to External Dependencies Only: Mock external APIs and services but avoid mocking internal code that can be tested directly for better reliability. 3. Incorporate Integration Tests Early: Use integration tests to reduce reliance on mocks by validating how different components interact in real environments. 4. Use Spy Objects for Minimal Interference: When mocking is necessary, prefer spy objects that track interactions without changing the behavior of the system under test.

Mocking verifies interactions and expectations in code behavior, while stubbing provides predefined responses without verification. Choose the technique based on whether you're testing code behavior (use mocks) or state/output (use stubs).

Avoiding over-mocking or over-stubbing in Agile testing begins with understanding the distinctions. 🔍 Define Mocks and Stubs: Recognize that mocks simulate complex objects and check interactions between components, while stubs provide simplified, controlled outputs for specific inputs. 🎯 Purpose-Driven Use: Use mocks for interaction testing between objects and stubs for state testing to avoid unnecessary complexity. 🛠️ Balance Approach: Balance the use of real objects and mocks/stubs to ensure tests are maintainable and effectively isolate component behaviors. ⚖️ Evaluate Necessity: Regularly review the necessity and implementation of mocks and stubs to ensure they are used appropriately and do not hinder test clarity or reliability

🧠 Understand the Difference: Mock: Simulates behavior and verifies interactions. Stub: Provides predefined responses without verification. Use mocks for behavior tests and stubs for state/output tests. 🔍 Focus on Essentials: Mock only critical interactions or external dependencies. Test real objects when possible to keep tests simple and closer to real scenarios. 🚦 Limit Mocking: Mock external services, not internal logic. Over-mocking can make tests fragile and hard to maintain. 🔬 Refactor for Testability: Simplify code to reduce the need for mocks/stubs. Keep tests maintainable by avoiding excessive setup. 🧩 Integrate Integration Testing: Combine unit tests with integration tests for comprehensive coverage.

Mocking has been around for long... in order not to allow it into job industry mainly Agile... the Laws has to be Very Strict n Seriously Enforced.. Any Gap in this will lead to Bullying or greater issues...

🎯 Focus on Functionality: Test behavior, not implementation details. Avoid mocks/stubs that tie to low-level details, like HTTP requests or JSON parsing. 🏗️ Use the Right Abstraction: Match mocks/stubs to the complexity of the real dependency. For example, mock the API response, not the internal handling of that response. 🔄 Embrace Flexibility: Ensure your tests remain stable even when refactoring. Avoid overly detailed mocks/stubs that make tests brittle. 🔧 Test at the Correct Layer: Keep mocks/stubs at the appropriate level of abstraction to ensure tests are meaningful and maintainable.

When writing tests, use mocks and stubs at an appropriate abstraction level to focus on the functionality, preventing brittleness during code changes. Prioritize testing higher-level behavior, such as external API interactions, over implementation details for resilient and maintainable tests.

The way to find out what to mock: Find some business logic (BL) that needs to be tested eg we want to write an automated test for calculating tax. Look at the object where the BL lives. Let's say it's called objTaxCalc. What dependencies does objTaxCalc have? Now use 'dependency injection'. This means, when you instantiate objTaxCalc, pass it references to its dependencies. If objTaxCalc needs to call an API, pass objTaxCalc a reference to objAPI You can now create a test that instantiates an objTaxCalc object and pass in a mock of objAPI and see how it behaves (assuming mocking framework can create your mocks) For the code that makes decisions in real life, pass in real objAPI (not mocks) For more, search for 'dependency injection'

🏗️ Prioritize Unit Tests: Focus on having more unit tests, as they are fast and isolated. Use mocks/stubs here to isolate individual components. 🔄 Balance Integration Tests: Ensure you have a good number of integration tests. Mocks/stubs can be used to test interactions between components. 🌐 Maintain End-to-End Tests: Have fewer but essential end-to-end tests. Avoid mocks/stubs in these tests to ensure real-world validation. ⚖️ Ensure Proper Coverage: Balance between unit, integration, and end-to-end tests to validate both individual components and overall application behavior.

Follow the test pyramid in software testing, prioritizing more fast and focused unit tests, followed by integration tests, and fewer end-to-end tests. Use mocking for unit tests, but ensure enough end-to-end tests run without mocks to validate real-world application behavior.

🔄 Enhance Modularity: Use dependency injection to pass dependencies as parameters, making your code modular and easier to manage. 🧪 Improve Testability: Inject dependencies into your components or functions, which simplifies mocking/stubbing during testing. 🔧 Simplify Mocking: Injecting dependencies, like database connections, allows for easy replacement with mocks/stubs during tests without altering the original code. 💡 Increase Flexibility: Dependency injection promotes flexible and adaptable code, facilitating seamless updates and maintenance.

Design your code to follow the principle of dependency injection, where dependencies are provided to a class from external sources rather than being instantiated internally. This allows for easier substitution of dependencies during testing without relying heavily on mocking or stubbing.

Promote dependency injection for modular and testable code by passing dependencies as parameters, enhancing flexibility and ease of testing with mocks or stubs. This design pattern improves code maintainability and allows for seamless replacement of dependencies, such as a database connection, during testing.

🔍 Ensure Accuracy: Avoid creating unrealistic mocks or stubs for third-party dependencies, as this can lead to false results in your tests. 💼 Use Real Instances: Whenever possible, use real instances of third-party libraries, frameworks, or services to capture their true behavior. 📜 Rely on Documentation: If you must mock, use tools that generate realistic mocks based on the actual documentation or specifications of the dependency. 🛠 Minimize Risk: Reduce the risk of hidden bugs by not mocking or stubbing dependencies outside your control.

If you are mocking for unit tests, then mocking out 3rd party calls helps focus the scope of your tests. If you are looking to do end to end testig then yes test 3rd party code. If you can't trust the stability of 3rd party code for your lower level unit tests then you have found a sign to rethink using that 3rd party code

Over-mocking or over-stubbing third-party dependencies in software testing can create inaccurate representations, leading to hidden bugs and missed edge cases. To ensure robust tests, prefer using real instances of external dependencies or utilize tools that generate realistic mocks based on documentation.

🔄 Regular Updates: Review and update mocks and stubs regularly to keep them consistent with your code and dependencies. 🧹 Clean Up: Remove any unused or unnecessary mocks and stubs to avoid clutter and confusion. 📝 Clear Naming & Documentation: Use clear naming conventions and add comments to explain the purpose and behavior of your mocks and stubs. 🔧 Simplify & Refactor: Refactor to reduce duplication, complexity, and ambiguity, ensuring that your tests remain reliable and maintainable.

Regularly review and simplify mocks/stubs in your test suite, ensuring they reflect realistic scenarios. Update them with code changes, remove unused ones, and use clear naming and documentation for clarity and maintainability.

Test Smell Detection: Be vigilant for signs of over-mocking or over-stubbing, such as excessive setup code, overly complex test cases, or fragile tests that break frequently due to changes in dependencies. Address these issues promptly to maintain the reliability and effectiveness of your tests. Collaboration: Foster collaboration between developers and testers to ensure that mocking and stubbing decisions are made thoughtfully and align with the overall testing strategy. Encourage open communication and knowledge sharing to promote best practices and continuous improvement in testing techniques.

Share practical examples from your experience, highlighting challenges faced and innovative approaches in reviewing and refactoring mocks/stubs for improved test clarity and reliability.