Product Status Peek – 2011

Eli Lopian    Marketing, Product, Release, Unit Tests    

We are starting the year with some great product advances.

Typemock Isolator++

We have released version 1.1, with many bug fixes and 2 major features:

1. Continuing with our beliefs, now there is no need to change the production code at all!

2. There is a new api to fake out and ref arguments

3. No, we haven’t completed our port to GCC yet

More information here

Typemock Isolator

We have been working hard on fixing bugs and adding integrations to many other tools, keep an eye out for the upcoming release.

Typemock Test Lint

We added more rules that handle interaction based testing and boosted the performance, keep an eye out for this release.

Typemock TeamMate

We fixed some Server Connectivity issues and boosted the performance on this one too, expect the release soon.

And last but not least
Here is a peek screenshot straight from the oven of our labs:

Easy unit testing in C++, Webinar

Eli Lopian    Product, Release, Unit Tests    

I am very excited about Isolator++. Roy has written a post on our first encounter with unit testing C++ and the difficulties we found many years ago. There are many issues in C++ that render ‘testable design’ to be ‘bad design’, for example calling virtual methods constructors in a big no no in C++, but testable design means having those methods virtual methods. So trying to convince developers to make their code testable has led to a lot of resistance.

But our dream of unit testing C++ is coming true with Isolator++, and you are invited to hear Roy Osherove talk about Unit testing C++.

Mark the date: Thursday, October 21st, 2010

More information here (we are giving out free Isolator++ licenses!)

How we doubled our visitors

Eli Lopian    Product, Release, Unit Tests    

Simple, we created a great compelling product!

We have doubled our visitors and downloads since releasing Isolator++! This is really exciting. It is great to welcome C++ developers to the unit testing world and to make it easy to unit test too.

We have carefully crafted Isolator++ for C++ developers with all our knowledge from the .NET world, on how to help us developers focus on creating productive code and automate all of the plumbing and wiring. This makes writing unit tests easy and thus help us become software craftsmen.

Some of our community tweets, thanks.

@unclebobmartin: http://bit.ly/cB41Hz Wow, a mocking framework for C++. What a brave new world.

@dr_dobbs: Typemock Launches Isolator ++ http://twb.io/9×1g9e

@KentBeck: Isolator++ looks interesting for our unit-testing C++ brethren http://bit.ly/c62UXE

@testertools: Typemock Launches Isolator ++ – First C++ Easy Unit Testing Solution: Typemock,  the leading provider and pioneer… http://bit.ly/d0tm2d

@MrClyfar: For C++ devs, this could be HUGE! http://www.elilopian.com/2010/10/06/new-unit-testing-c-with-typemock/

Web Site bug issue now solved

Eli Lopian    Marketing, Unit Tests    

Just came back from our Isolator++ release brunch, thanks team, it’s a pleasure to celebrate this release with you, after all the hard work and challenges that we had to overcome. and what a great release! We have managed to beat our own goals.

But here comes the embarrassing part, a small bug slipped though our tests. All the images of the Isolator++ Product Page where missing from IE Browsers and looked like this:

Ouch!! after so many hours of creating Isolator++, Testing it, Sitting with the graphic designers and articulating our values, and we can’t see anything

Some of you told us about this problem as soon as they saw it (thanks guys) but only this morning did we fix the page.

Looks better and now you can download and try out the tool.

*New* Unit Testing C++ with Typemock

Eli Lopian    Unit Tests    

Today is a really special day for us. We are releasing our first tool to help C++ developers unit test there code – Isolator++ . Up till now, we have been focused on the .NET developers and have a suite of tools to help developers unit test in an easy-correct-and-effective way. We are now breaking the own limits and are aimed at helping more developers unit test.

Unit testing is considered extremely difficult for C/C++ developers, and these applications are the ones written for smart-phones, medical, avionics, automobile and other life-critical and mission critical devices.

Our first version will make unit testing alot easier. We currently support Windows platforms and are planning on supporting other platforms rapidly. Our great team of developers have managed to pour all of our unit-testing knowledge into this solution.

Isolator++ Main Features

See more features here

• Introducing Short and Simple but Powerful API:
  On one hand our API’s can powerful enough to FAKE any function on the other hand we understand that developers want to ignore complete components, and this can be done in one statement.
• Robust- Low Maintenance
  Due to the loose default nature of Isolator++ changes in the production code have a lower impact on the tests, meaning that adding or removing calls to a faked class will not break the test. This leads to lower maintenance along with the readable API makes failing tests easier to fix
• examples:
  Fake complete classed (methods can be non-virtual)
  Fake call hierarchies (complete call-chains)
  Fake static methods and globals
  Fake future object.

Free Isolator++ Download Here

CrowdMarketing – Crowd driven messaging

Eli Lopian    Marketing, Unit Tests    

We have all heard of crowdsourcing, and that crowdsourcing marketing is doomed to fail. So it is not often that one our our users manages to articulate our values in such a clear and concise way:

@leypascua: It’s amazing how TypeMock enables you to take advantage of trade-offs in code without sacrificing quality.

Thanks leypascua

Unacceptable: Unit testing will take 20 years to catch on

Eli Lopian    Agile, Unit Tests    

During the Typemock Partnership Academy Panel in Oslo, I had a very strange feeling coming from Uncle Bob, when asked “what is the state of unit testing” that was the feeling of acceptance, but I felt a tingle of consent perhaps a bite of giving in.

“We are on track, everything is ok, the state of unit testing – is the state of unit testing, so their is no place to feel happy or sad about it” and “it will take 20 years, and that is ok, most of us, the ‘bad’ developers will die out and be replaced by craftsmen”

Gil Zilberfeld although quiet, nicely pointed out: “I feel like I am listening to a Buddha Guru”

I feel very different, I know that 90% of the developers don’t unit test. That is 9 out of every 10 developers, that is outrageous, 10 years of unit testing and  only 10% of the developers – get it. Some developers we have interviewed said “Yup, I tried unit-testing, it is just a way for management to make us write twice as much code in half the time, I will never do it again”

As Roy Osherove pointed out, there is talk of dividing the developers into 2 groups, “Us” – who unit test, and “Them” who don’t. “We won’t even try to teach them, its their loss.” I can see where this comes from, we would prefer to hire only developers who unit test their code. But the truth is, in hindsight, the majority of the developers working at Typemock, didn’t know how to unit test and learnt it on the job. I actually think that there is already a separation, There always has been one, between the purist (Whether it is Strict-Object-Oriented, UML-Modeling, TDD, craftsmanship you name it) to the pragmatic developer: The highest level of joy, is seeing our product being used, so we need to understand our users, create something that is useful and joyful for them, with the lowest cost of ownership. We will use any tool/process/trick to make this happen.

I had a great discussion with Richard Fennell from Black-Marble over breakfast. Richard told me that Management in companies are focusing at investing millions of dollars on the “user-tests” and see those tests as the ultimate QA solution, while hardly any invest in unit-testing. “We have no quality problem, because we have a QA team”. Now the QA market is a huge and very strong market and unit-testing is a threat to that market. I have heard many QA people, thinking about how this will make them lose their jobs. Richard talked about the normal software developer, who doesn’t have the passion that we have, that see their job as “a job” and don’t spend their free time going to conferences and writing an open source project, they just want to get the job done.

Perhaps this easy-going, let’s wait this out, attitude, is what’s hindering the acceptance of unit testing in the world. It is clear to me that 20 years is too long for this to happen, I know that there is another way, that technology and business value have the power to make that transformation become real.

Debugging Communication Errors

Eli Lopian    .NET Tests, Community, Debugging, Management for Geeks, Time Management, Unit Tests    

I couldn’t sleep all night, thinking that on the last company meeting, when one of my employees complained that he can’t finish his tasks because of personal issues that he has with other employees,  I basically told him and the rest of the team to help each other and be a team, I was managing them instead of empowering them, and knew that the issue probably remains unresolved…

For the next meeting, I decided that no matter what I do, I will make sure that my team goes back to work after they resolved their issues themselves, empowered to continue working and achieving  their goals.

I started the meeting by asking each of them to bring up a personal issue that he has with another employee and to resolve it with the other on the spot. It was amazingly interesting to see how they raised the problems, and found the solution at the same time.

One of the employees complained that he requested help via email. He sent the email, but didn’t receive any answers. He needed certain people in the company to fill out part of a form, but none of them did. Nothing but a simple communication problem; they all got the email but didn’t understand the call for action. His way to resolve the matter was to sit with each one of the people involved personally and to fill the form together, that way he will make sure that they understand their share, and he will make sure that it’s done on time.

One of the developers complained about having troubles with managing his time.  I explained that this is not an interpersonal problem, and asked him questions which led him to realize that his lack of time is because he is always helping people. He can’t say no to anyone, and he doesn’t want to look bad or disappoint anyone, so he ends up making everybody happy by helping them, but having no time to do his own tasks. When he understood, it was a major breakthrough, and he realized that he will have to start saying no to people or at least to say I’m busy now I will help you later; I would love to follow and see if he would really do it…

It’s only two examples out of many. The amazing and inspiring part was to see how each one of them was empowered and found his own way to resolve his problem without being told or managed.

Last, out of the entire company there was one developer that claimed that he has no personal issues with anyone in the company. When I asked him if others has problems with him, he was confident that their answer would be no.

On the second round that we did, each one of the developers needed to share their successful interpersonal communications, almost everyone mentioned him.  I guess that it was as obvious to them as it was to him.

One of the more gratifying surprises from the exercise was hearing about the successful communication routes that have developed that I did not know about.  For example, two developers found the time and were sensitive enough to help a third that was in major distress.  They simply encouraged him, but it was exactly what he needed in order to get back on track.   Another developer thanked the sales team for providing him with relevant historical customer support information.  Yet another thanked a team member in marketing for helping him with the wording in an important email to customers.

By the end of the process, it was clear that the team understood the power of effective communication and they now had better tools to resolve interpersonal issues with team members independently.  And at Typemock we know – your result (read: code) is always better when you’re working with the right tools.

When you know immediately when something is wrong, you are able to fix it, and get an immediate indication that your code is correct without the involvement of the QA. In other words, exactly like the Manager that empowered his team to resolve their problems without his involvement and without managing them, the unit testing helping the developers’ resolve problems on the spot and avoid QA involvement.

2009 retrospect

Eli Lopian    Marketing, Unit Tests    

Its my birthday, which is normally a time for self reflection and lot of fun, alcohol and friends.

As a present my friends gave me a Tandem skydiving, I am waiting for good weather to see why my friends want me to jump out of a flying plane 4 km in the air.

My birthday always falls close to the end of the year, so it is also a good time to see what happen in Typemock last year.

Typemock in 2009

We have had 4 new babes in Typemock from Roy Osherove, Doron Peretz, Shalhevet Segal and Dror Helper. Congrats, First timers: Welcome to parenthood

We have welcomed 4 new employees this year.

We have invested over 15,000 hours in our products and we now  have 6 great products to make unit testing easy

• Isolator
• Isolator for SharePoint
• Isolator for ASP.NET
• Isolator for Silverlight
• Racer
• Tracker

The development team has made a breakthrough with Intellitest, to guide developers into writing good tests easily.

We have started This Week in Testing podcast.

The company has a FedEx day, once every 2 weeks, in which developers can work on their pet project.

Our development process has evolved and is a hybrid between scrum and ToC.

We sold over 100% more licenses, showing us that more developers are jumping on the unit-testing wagon.

Our sales team has managed to help developers successfully implement unit testing in their company. Our site has received a facelift and we have a new coffee machine.

In short, we have had a breakthrough year in our development, our products, our sales and there is much more to come.

To reach these result I have to thank the Typemock team, they are a great team and our amazing customers and partners who made this happen.

Best wishes and a happy new year.
Eli

Gaps I found while dog-fooding Typemock Isolator

Eli Lopian    Product, Unit Tests    

I have been dog-fooding Typemock Isolator with the Metric Dashboard. There are quite a few gaps in the product that I have found while using it.

Before I go into the details of the gaps, I must point out that all these features exists in the older API’s (that are still available), but they are missing in the newer lambda-API’s (called AAA) that are much better.

Firing Events

This is not an Isolation feature per-se, but it is needed to simulate how our unit under test reacts to external events. In my case I needed to test the TestDriven.NET integration, the TestDriven add in can raise events when ever a test suite is run, and whenever a test completes (Thank Jamie).

Verifying the arguments of a constructor

One of Typemock Isolators unique features is the ability to fake objects that are created within the production code, we call these future instances. There was one case where I wanted to test that a constructor was called with a specific argument. The instance was a class that watched a specific directory for new files and load that file. I tested that class in another test, now I just wanted to test that the class was watching the correct directory. i.e. that the following was called

var watcher = new FileWatcher(testOutputDirectory);

I could of course change my code to have an empty constructor and to set the output directory after that

var watcher = new FileWatcher();
watcher.WatchFolder(testOutputDirectory);

But this felt unnatural, there is no reason that the FileWatcher be called without the directory – leading to more logic – testing that the user called WatchFolder – and complicating the application

Custom Argument Verification

Although we do have an API to verify if a call with exact argument was made, I needed to test that a specific argument was passed, but I couldn’t use the exact arguments API. The reason is that the argument was a class with 2 properties, but the Equals method was overloaded to test only one property, and I had to test both properties. I needed a custom checker. Ohad, told me that this existed but is undocumented in the NonPublic api (Api’s for private members)

Sequencing

We have put a lot of thought in the sequencing logic of the Api’s to make it easy to read and write the test on one hand, but keep the test Robust on the other (Robust as in, the test passes when the production implementation changes, but not the logic). In this test I needed to call an API to setup the data, but the date needed to be yesterday. Then with the data acting as normal, I needed to call the code and verify that a new record was added.

// pretend we started yesterday
var yesterday = DateTime.Now.AddDays(-1);
Isolate.WhenCalled(()=>DateTime.Now).WillReturn(yesterday);
var underTest = new DataModel();

// back to today
Isolate.WhenCalled(()=>DateTime.Now).WillCallOriginal();
// This should add a new record for today.
underTest.Update(); 

This didn’t work and I had to put both the Isolate lines together:

// pretend we started yesterday
var yesterday = DateTime.Now.AddDays(-1);
Isolate.WhenCalled(()=>DateTime.Now).WillReturn(yesterday);
// back to today
Isolate.WhenCalled(()=>DateTime.Now).WillCallOriginal();

var underTest = new DataModel();
// This should add a new record for today.
underTest.Update(); 

This is bad since changing the implementation to call DateTime.Now twice in the constructor will fail the test.

Assert the times a method was called

While testing the save logic, I need to test for a race condition and make sure that the save is called only once. The save logic is called from the calculation logic that is periodically called (say once a second). Once the auto-save interval is reached a save is performed in another Thread (to make sure that the application is responsive).

var saveInterval = OptionsSettings.Settings.AutoSaveEveryMinutes;
if (stopWatchForSave.Elapsed.TotalMinutes >= saveInterval)
{
  stopWatchForSave.Stop();
  ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(new WaitCallback(t=>
  {
    Save();
    stopWatchForSave = Stopwatch.StartNew();
  }));
}

But if the Save takes too long and the method is called again, the save will be called again.

To test this I need to make sure that the Save method is called only once, but this API is missing.

Bonus points goes to those who know how to solve this.