Provide regression tests (in nsiqunittest/nsiqcppstyle_unittest.py) for NsiqCppStyle engine internals #44
Description
Background
NsiqCppStyle is a serious Open Source software project, intended for general use. Every time a change is made to the engine code, there is a real risk of breaking the existing implementation and/or features. NsiqCppStyle requires high-quality and reliable regression tests to ensure that changes to the existing engine code base won't affect the existing features of the project.
As expected of a well-designed product, NsiqCppStyle has a dedicated unit/regression test source file: nsiqunittest/nsiqcppstyle_unittest.py. The file defines a class unitTest with member functions, each one representing a unit/regression test. This script file currently has a small number of tests:
| Test Name | Description |
|---|---|
| unitTest.__testFunctionSpecifier | Internal utility function used by the testIgnore function |
| unitTest.testIgnoreFinalFunctionSpecifier | Verifies that the final token is ignored |
| unitTest.testIgnoreOverrideFunctionSpecifier | Verifies that the override token is ignored |
| unitTest.testIgnoreNoexceptFunctionSpecifier | Verifies that the noexcept token is ignored |
| unitTest.testGetPrevMatchingLT | Verifies lexer.GetPrevMatchingLT() works correctly for simple variable definition/declaration statement using '<...>' |
| unitTest.testGetPrevMatchingLTWithInner | Verifies lexer.GetPrevMatchingLT() works correctly for variable definition/declaration statement using nested '<...>' pairs, no occurrence of adjacent LT or GT |
| unitTest.testGetPrevMatchingLTWithInnerOnes | Verifies lexer.GetPrevMatchingLT() works correctly for variable definition/declaration statement using nested '<...>' pairs, has occurrence of adjacent LT or GT |
| unitTest.test2 | Verifies all tokens can be iterated using GetNextToken |
| unitTest.test3 | Verifies all tokens can be iterated using GetNextTokenSkipWhiteSpaceAndComment |
| unitTest.test4 | Same as test3 with console level set to console.Level.Verbose |
| unitTest.test5 | Verifies the first token of a complex definition/declaration has type ID and expected value |
It is clear that these tests are the proverbial "tip of the iceberg", and that many more such tests should be added to ideally provide complete coverage of internal engine code.
Request
Effort should be invested to write as many targeted unit/regression tests for NsiqCppStyle internals as possible. As more people submit code changes, having a rich set of regression tests will give us the confidence needed to make changes without breaking the existing code base.
The writing of such tests should be an ongoing task: every time any contributor (or the maintainer) touches a section of NsiqCppStyle engine code, time should be allocated for enriching the set of unit/regression tests, all related to the section/features modified.
Similarly, while implementing a new feature, should a contributor break the product during development, s/he should stop and write the necessary unit/regression tests to never allow that break to happen again.
IMHO, this should be a high-priority task as soon as the current pull requests have settled and are merged.