Unit testing is nothing but the process of segregating each part of the application and testing them to check whether they are operating correctly or not. Developers perform unit testing because it is easier to design, execute, record, and analyze the test results of each unit instead of larger chunks of code. 

Bugs and defects encountered during unit tests are easy to locate and repair. Hence, unit testing is a highly preferred part of the SDLC process where the agile methodology is followed.

The devs at Sarvika Technologies have always believed in doing things right from the beginning. Hence, the focus on unit testing in the development process. Here are a few benefits and noteworthy insights for developers to check before starting the unit testing

9 ways unit testing improves the code and software quality

• Makes the development process agile. Adding new functions or features to the existing software requires making changes in the old code. But updating already tested codes often prove to be costly and risky — a challenge that unit testing helps overcome.

• Less time in development. Many professionals argue that unit testing increases the coding time. However, on the upside, it significantly reduces the overall development time. The reason is that fewer bugs come across during the system and acceptance testing.

• Better code quality. Developers must write test cases by understanding specifications to perform unit testing. Bugs encountered during this process are fixed before the code is sent ahead for integration testing. This not only improves the code quality but makes the application robust and bug-free. 

• Early detection of bugs. It helps in identifying bugs and resolving them during the early stages of the software development life cycle. These issues can be missing/incomplete specifications, code flaws, bugs in the programmer’s implementation, etc.

• Easy changes and integrations. The process of code restructuring, changing, and maintenance becomes effortless thanks to unit testing. Fixing the issues found during unit testing suo-moto eliminate issues that would have occurred in later development and testing phases. It also makes testing the code after integration much easier.

• Availability of unit testing documentation. These documents help developers understand more about the functionalities at later stages. They can also look into the unit test interface and make corrections or work fast and effortlessly.

• Smooth debugging process. Unit testing streamlines the debugging process. If the unit test fails at any stage, then the code needs to be debugged. Otherwise, the process can move ahead without any setbacks.

• Demonstrating code completeness. Code completion cannot be justified by showing that the code has been written and checked as testers don’t get functional builds to test until integration is over. However, performing unit tests demonstrates the code completeness and hence is useful in the agile process.
• Lower cost. Tracing and resolving bugs at later stages is tedious and makes the development process more costly and time-consuming. Whereas detecting and resolving bugs during unit testing is easy and speeds up the development time.

Few points every developer must keep in mind when delivering functionality tests to QA.

• Never bypass testing a new code. As a part of the process, developers work on a section of the application and complete the functional requirement. But devs often forget to test the connected units of the worked sections and check whether they are operating correctly or not.

As a result, many bugs and issues crop up during the QA cycle. And the developers find themselves in a mess thinking about how bugs and issues can occur? after performing unit testing by a manual or automated process.

Unit testing is not concerned with only the worked sections but also with all the areas and sections connected to their working section.

• Lack of awareness about how different parts of the application collaborate and work together makes the testing process boring, repetitive, and complicated for the developers. However, investing adequate time to achieve feature development and testing and managing the process well can make developer testing a constructive part of the QA program.

• Take advantage of the automated test processes instead of complaining that unit tests waste time and are too complicated and too difficult to execute repeatedly.

• Take ownership of the work under their belt and focus on making it bugless.

The development process in agile methodology undergoes improvements continuously. New ideas and techniques to make the software application reliable and robust are keys to successful delivery and high client satisfaction.

If you would like to know more about the processes we follow in our development cycle, then connect with us here.