Unit Testing with Moles and Pex - Part 1

Tweet

This post discusses key ways of improving the effectiveness and code coverage on unit tests, using the Visual Studio Test Framework, including the developing Moles and Pex technologies.  Other frameworks and harnesses such as nUnit, Moq, etc. are not discussed in this post.

Moles is Microsoft's code instrumentation, or mock framework, used to isolate environment dependencies.  Moles was created expressly to enable Pex to function.  Moles is discussed in greater detail, after the break.

Pex intelligently examines the logic branches of the code to be tested, and then generates a series of input values that should or should not fail, thereby maximizing test code coverage.

Before we start talking about Moles and Pex, there are some elementary, yet vitally important topics to review about unit testing.  Adhering to these rules play into the effectiveness of Moles and Pex.  I strongly advise reading, before moving on to part 2, but I really can't stop you, can I? (or can I? Muahaha!)

ATOM and RSS Feeds Fixed

Yeah, my bad.  Again.

Apparently, the last amazing adjustment I made to the RSS and ATOM feed settings at FeedBurner.com didn't take well.  I have adjusted them yet again, and they appear to be functioning correctly, this time.  Sorry I was not aware of the issue, as I don't see a need to subscribe to my own blog.

Go ahead... try clicking the ATOM and.or RSS icons, in the sidebar.  They really, really work.  (For real!)

Active Directory Properties for C#

I compiled the following list of Active Directory properties, while developing a solution. This list is more comprehensive than those I found on the InterWebs.

Please submit suggestions for additions to this list, via the comment block, below!  Code thrives on community feedback. (Code is posted after the jump break...)

Dependency Management

In the world of programming, nothing guarantees an instant ulcer more than change. Object-oriented programming (OOP) is particularly susceptible to problems stemming from changes made to objects upon which the code is dependent. However, when dependencies are well managed, adverse affects from change can be kept at bay.