The Grumpy Programmer's Guide To Testing PHP Applications
$24.00
Minimum price
$39.00
Suggested price

The Grumpy Programmer's Guide To Testing PHP Applications

16 years of testing advice to help you learn to test your PHP code no matter what framework you use

About the Book

I’ve been trying to help people test their PHP code for a very long time, probably before some of you reading this even got started in programming. PHPUnit didn’t exist, the most commonly-used version of PHP was 5.0, and social media wasn’t a thing. GMail had just started being used. My first search engine was Altavista. Yes, I learned to test uphill, both ways, in the snow.

I feel that testing, as a concept, is hard to explain to beginning programmers: “we are going to write code that is going to make sure your other code works as expected”. The assumption that underlies all this is that you already understand how to write computer programs in your chosen language! This makes it very difficult to teach to beginner or inexperienced programmers. When you combine this with how PHP does not force any particular structure on you, you have an environment where only the folks who are really motivated end up learning about testing.

The Grumpy Programmer's Guide To Testing PHP Applications is my way to try and provide some help for developers who are looking to become more test-centric and reap the benefits of automated testing and related tooling like static analysis and automation. I believe that by learning the skills (both technical and core) surrounding testing you will be able to write tests using almost any testing framework and almost any PHP application.

The book combines all the material from my previous books, adds new material, and revisits some old topics where my experiences have changed my thoughts. I break the vast topic of testing into smaller chunks, along with providing lots of examples and explanations of how I approach testing applications. Some of the things I cover are:

  • Test-Driven development
  • Strategies for Test-After practices
  • Test refactoring strategies
  • How PHPUnit itself works
  • Complementary tools and approaches like static analysis and mutation testing
  • Learning the core skills you need to get other people testing their code

The Grumpy Programmer's Guide To Testing PHP Applications is designed to be the book you refer to over and over again to not only learn how to test your PHP applications but to also remind yourself about techniques and tools that lead to successful outcomes. All I've ever wanted to do is get more people testing their code so we can concentrate on solving problems instead of constantly fixing bugs that we might've caught earlier.

Translations

About the Author

Chris Hartjes
Chris Hartjes

Chris Hartjes has been helping teams try and produce fewer bugs in production since 1998 with a recent focus on tools and test automation in PHP and Python.

He lives in the snowy wilds of Lucan, Ontario, Canada,

Bundles that include this book

$64.99
Bought separately
$39.99
Bundle Price

Table of Contents

  • Introduction
  • Changing How We Think About Tests
    •  
      • It’s A Funnel, Not A Pyramid.
      • Customer Tests and Developer Tests
  • What Are Tests?
    •  
      • Prerequisites
      • Manual Tests
      • Semi-Automated Tests Using Real Dependencies
      • Semi-Automated Tests Using Test Doubles
      • Automated Tests
      • Final Thoughts
  • How PHPUnit Works
    •  
      • High-Level Overview
      • How Do We Install PHPUnit?
      • The PHPUnit Test Runner
      • PHPUnit Test Cases
  • Test Double
    •  
      • What Is a Test Double?
      • Dummies
      • Test Stub
      • Mock Objects and Test Spies
      • Fakes
      • Final Thoughts
  • Test-Driven Development by Example
    •  
      • Tooling
      • Getting Started
      • First Test
      • Next Test
      • Building Further Test Cases
      • Refactoring The Tests
      • Handling Non-Valid Input
      • Final Thoughts
  • Test-After Development by Example
    •  
      • What’s the Difference?
      • What Is the Expected Behavior?
      • How Am I Going to Test This?
  • Refactoring Helpers
  • Testing APIs
    •  
      • Response Validation
      • API Schema Validation
  • Data Providers
    •  
      • Why You Should Use Data Providers
      • Look at All Those Tests
      • Creating Data Providers
      • More Complex Examples
      • Data Provider Tricks
      • Final Thoughts
  • Wrappers
    •  
      • Wrappers From Up High
  • Metatesting
    •  
      • Mature Testing Tools Are Available
      • Open Source Drives Acceptance
      • Proof Exists to Back the Promises
      • Testing Moves Bug Fixing to a Cheaper Part of the Cycle
      • Well-Documented Build Systems Encourage Continuous Deployment
      • There Are Awesome Complementary Tools
  • Building a Testing Culture
    •  
      • Primary Goal
      • Tests as First Class Components
      • Tests for Bugs
      • Tests for New Features
      • Tests for Refactoring
      • Commitment to Peer Review
      • Consistency in Development Environments
      • Automation Is Your Friend
      • Same Languages and Tools
      • Same Practices
      • Trust
  • Bootstrapping
    •  
      • Test Environment Bootstrapping
      • Auto-Wiring Bootstrapping
  • No Tests? No Problem!
    •  
      • How Did We End Up Without Any Tests?
      • Bug Fixes Need Proof
      • New Features Require Proof
      • Test Suites Are Not Bulletproof
  • Nobody Is Running the Tests!
    •  
      • Time Pressure
      • Tests Are Too Slow
      • Monolithic Bootstrapping
      • Shared Testing Environments
      • Testing Is Part of the Job
      • Lost Opportunity Costs
  • It’s About People
    •  
      • Like Kids on a Playground
      • Lack of Good Docs
      • Convincing People About Time
      • Cowboys Above Me

The Leanpub 60 Day 100% Happiness Guarantee

Within 60 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.

Now, this is technically risky for us, since you'll have the book or course files either way. But we're so confident in our products and services, and in our authors and readers, that we're happy to offer a full money back guarantee for everything we sell.

You can only find out how good something is by trying it, and because of our 100% money back guarantee there's literally no risk to do so!

So, there's no reason not to click the Add to Cart button, is there?

See full terms...

Earn $8 on a $10 Purchase, and $16 on a $20 Purchase

We pay 80% royalties on purchases of $7.99 or more, and 80% royalties minus a 50 cent flat fee on purchases between $0.99 and $7.98. You earn $8 on a $10 sale, and $16 on a $20 sale. So, if we sell 5000 non-refunded copies of your book for $20, you'll earn $80,000.

(Yes, some authors have already earned much more than that on Leanpub.)

In fact, authors have earnedover $13 millionwriting, publishing and selling on Leanpub.

Learn more about writing on Leanpub

Free Updates. DRM Free.

If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).

Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers) and EPUB (for phones, tablets and Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.

Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.

Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them

Write and Publish on Leanpub

You can use Leanpub to easily write, publish and sell in-progress and completed ebooks and online courses!

Leanpub is a powerful platform for serious authors, combining a simple, elegant writing and publishing workflow with a store focused on selling in-progress ebooks.

Leanpub is a magical typewriter for authors: just write in plain text, and to publish your ebook, just click a button. (Or, if you are producing your ebook your own way, you can even upload your own PDF and/or EPUB files and then publish with one click!) It really is that easy.

Learn more about writing on Leanpub