The Quality of Junit Tests: An Empirical Study Report

Abstract

The quality of unit tests gains substantial importance in modern software systems. This work explores the way in which Junit tests are written in real world Java systems. We analyse 112 Java repositories and measure the quality of unit tests by finding patterns which indicate good practices of coding. Our results show that the quality of real world unit tests is low, and that in many cases, unit tests don't follow the well-known recommendations for writing unit tests. These early results demonstrate the need for more tools and techniques for refactoring of tests.