provide better currency / documentation guarantees than
def test_case000135():
"""
Tests: myMethod
Date: 2024-10-23
Commit base: edb78go9
Summary: Tests case where zero inputs are given.
Details: ...
"""
As for quality criteria, I'm not necessarily claiming the naming scheme is overwhelmingly better, but except in the very limited and unrealistic scenario where you only need to write a single test per method, unwieldy test method names can cause more confusion than clarity, so I don't think index-based naming schemes complemented by documentation headers are 'worse' either. I don't think the standard good variable naming rules apply much here, because in general variable names largely rely on context to be meaningful, and should only be as minimally descriptive as required to understand their role in that context, whereas a test needs to be sufficiently descriptive to describe what is being tested AND provide the necessary context.
I don't think the bathroom analogy is good here either. I'm not arguing for sloppiness or bad code hygiene. A "better" analogy would be someone complaining about people not using the provided towels like people have always been doing, when the initial argument is that the towels in this particular room seem dirty and there's a perfectly fine airdryer "right there". Hence the answer "why does anyone think they get a pass washing their hands on a towel" just sounds bizzare to me, when the topic is appropriateness of sanitation method, not cleanliness itself.
(note: not being argumentative, I hope my tone does not come across as such; if you do bump onto this again and think I'm misinterpreting or missing some finer point entirely, I'd be interested to hear it)
But I don't get the argument. Perhaps we're talking about different things (or have different mental anchors in mind)?
Giving python unittest syntax as an example, how does having a test called
provide better currency / documentation guarantees than As for quality criteria, I'm not necessarily claiming the naming scheme is overwhelmingly better, but except in the very limited and unrealistic scenario where you only need to write a single test per method, unwieldy test method names can cause more confusion than clarity, so I don't think index-based naming schemes complemented by documentation headers are 'worse' either. I don't think the standard good variable naming rules apply much here, because in general variable names largely rely on context to be meaningful, and should only be as minimally descriptive as required to understand their role in that context, whereas a test needs to be sufficiently descriptive to describe what is being tested AND provide the necessary context.I don't think the bathroom analogy is good here either. I'm not arguing for sloppiness or bad code hygiene. A "better" analogy would be someone complaining about people not using the provided towels like people have always been doing, when the initial argument is that the towels in this particular room seem dirty and there's a perfectly fine airdryer "right there". Hence the answer "why does anyone think they get a pass washing their hands on a towel" just sounds bizzare to me, when the topic is appropriateness of sanitation method, not cleanliness itself.
(note: not being argumentative, I hope my tone does not come across as such; if you do bump onto this again and think I'm misinterpreting or missing some finer point entirely, I'd be interested to hear it)