Book Review of the Month

JUnit in Action Vincent Massol, Ted Husted

	If you've ventured into a bookstore lately, you may have noticed that the number of titles available on agile methodologies is multiplying more rapidly than the populations of some third-world countries. Leafing through any one of these titles while sipping an espresso in the bookstore's coffee bar, you'll quickly figure out that repeatable, automated unit tests are a good thing, and that JUnit is the unit testing framework most often used for Java unit testing. A couple of mochachino grande's later, and you've read enough to convince you that your continued survival rests on writing these automated unit tests. Unfortunately, and before your caffeine buzz even wears off, you're struck with the realization that while you're motivated and ready to go, you're just not sure exactly how to go about writing tests for many of your J2EE components. "JUnit in Action" picks up where these other texts leave off. This is not a book on test-driven development, and it's not a book trying desperately to convince you of the value of tests. The book's goal is to demonstrate exactly how to write comprehensive unit tests for the various components of your J2EE applications. Writing tests for servlets, filters, JSPs, taglibs, database components, and EJBs are all covered in detail, as are testing strategies using mock objects and Cactus. Not only are you shown how to write the tests, but also how to write testable code. Along the way, the author points out useful best practices and how to use design patterns to improve your tests and the code you are testing. Code examples are thoroughly documented throughout the text in order to illustrate the techniques being discussed. "JUnit in Action" is the definitive how-to manual for unit testing J2EE components. Pick up one of the other books if you're looking for something more motivational, but when you're ready to sit down and bang out some code, you'll want this book at your side. (Jason Menard - Bartender, November 2003)
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