CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++visual-studioeclipseunit-testingtdd
Baz
Baz

Reputation: 13135

TDD and housekeeping overhead with C++

I do test driven development of c++ code and one thing I find awkward is the fact that I need to create many files for each class, for example:

iread.h
read.h
read.cpp
mockread.h
mockread.cpp
testread.h
testread.cpp

And add these to different folders (filters) within my project.

As a result, I've abondand cpp files to a large extent. However this breaks the rule that unit tests should be as quick as possible to build. So I wish to stop doing this if I could only speed development up on other fronts.

To cut to the point, I literally get a headache when I work with test driven development in C++ due to the housekeeking overhead. I don't have the same problem when working with python.

One improvement I've recently made is to use google mock and to create the mocks automatically from their interfaces. So this is certainly an improvement.

However it feels that I should be able to reduce the overhead further through the use of plugins which automatically create stubs for all the classes I need when tdding a particular class. Do such plugins exist? Would it be difficult to develop such a plugin, with regard to Eclipse, VS 2005, VS 2008 and VS 2010 (Sorry, but I have to work in different environments from time to time).

Another issue is the amount of navigating I need to do in order to find classes (mocks, tests, etc) for a given class under test in the Project Explorer (as it is called in VS). One idea I have is to stop grouping files within the project explorer in this fashion:

+interfaces
 +namespaceA
  iread.h

+headers
 +namespaceA
   read.h

+source
 +namespaceA
   read.cpp

+mocks
 +namespaceA
   mockread.h
   mockread.cpp

+tests
 +namespaceA
   testread.h
   testread.cpp

and do this instead:

 +namespaceA
  read.cpp
  read.h
  readi.h
  readmock.cpp
  readmock.h
  readtest.cpp
  readtest.h

This will group files associated with a particular class together in the solution explorer. Is this a good idea? How do you do things? Would be wierd to have an IRead interface in a readi.h file... Michael Feathers writes that he doesn't use the I at all but I prefer to use it... The vast majority of my interfaces have only one implementation class associated with them.

How do you organise your projects on disk?

Any other tips? Do you get headaches too?

Thanks,

Barry

Upvotes: 2

Views: 471

Answers (1)

quamrana
quamrana

Reputation: 39384

Unfortunately with C++ the 'header and module' thing is not going away soon.

My tips for the source/mocks/test file problems are:

  • Move mocks into the test files - the tests are the only clients of the mocks afterall.
  • Use module only test files
    • I've written my own test framework that allows .cpp only files for tests.
    • cppUnit allows .cpp only tests if you register them.

Upvotes: 2

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