Testing terms
The discipline that lets you change code without fear
Tests are the safety net that lets you refactor without fear and ship without dread. This category covers unit, integration, and end-to-end testing strategies, test doubles, coverage metrics, TDD and BDD approaches, and the tooling ecosystem across languages. A well-tested codebase is not slower to build — it is faster to evolve.
Test Doubles PHP 8.0+
Substitute objects used in tests to replace real dependencies — mocks, stubs, spies, fakes, and dummies each serve a different purpose.
1mo ago
testing intermediate
Test-Driven Development (TDD) PHP 7.0+
A development practice where tests are written before the code they test — Red (write a failing test), Green (write the minimum code to pass), Refactor (improve without breaking tests).
2mo ago
testing intermediate
Test Coverage Types PHP 7.0+
Line coverage (lines executed), branch coverage (if/else paths), mutation testing (do tests detect actual bugs) — each measures a different aspect of test quality.
2mo ago
testing intermediate
Test Environment Parity
Dev, staging, and production must use identical PHP versions, MySQL versions, and OS configurations — divergence causes bugs that only appear in production.
2mo ago
testing intermediate
Test Naming Conventions
Well-named tests read as specifications — they document what the system does, make failure messages self-explanatory, and allow filtering tests by feature or scenario.
2mo ago
testing beginner
Test Data Builders PHP 7.0+
A pattern for constructing test objects with sensible defaults that can be selectively overridden — reducing test setup noise and making the relevant data explicit.
2mo ago
testing intermediate
Test Fixtures & setUp() Best Practices
Managing test state with setUp()/tearDown(), object mothers, and factories — keeping tests isolated, readable, and fast.
2mo ago
testing intermediate
Test Isolation Strategies PHP 7.0+
Ensuring each test starts from a known clean state — using database transactions, in-memory fakes, or container resets so tests don't bleed state into each other.
2mo ago
testing intermediate
Test Pyramid PHP 5.0+ A model advocating many fast unit tests at the base, fewer integration tests in the middle, and a small number of slow E2E tests at the top.
2mo ago
testing beginner
Test-Driven Development (TDD) PHP 5.0+ A development practice where tests are written before production code, driving design through the Red-Green-Refactor cycle.
2mo ago
testing intermediate