Jason GormanAsk 12 developers and you'll get 12 different answers, but what do you think? What are the "units" being tested in "unit tests"?
Jon Ayre@jasongorman I prefer "component test" because that's the key difference. You're testing individual components to ensure they behave as expected.
@JonHAyre Component as in "unit of software release"?
@jasongorman Component as in a self-contained piece of code that performs a generic task. E.g. a reusable class in object oriented development. Also components can contain other components. An analogy: a spark plug is a component, as is the engine into which it is fitted. Each can be tested in isolation to ensure it behaves as required. The car is the product into which the components are installed. Component tests make sense independently for the component as well as for the system as a whole.
@JonHAyre I thought maybe you meant "component" in the sense of "Component-Based Development"
@jasongorman My original background is in electronic engineering so I tend to use terms and design systems in the same way. I find that software development spends a lot of time reinventing concepts and evolving them into the approaches that engineers have practiced for centuries (agile is an example). There's no harm in that as it leads to a deeper understanding, but it would be better if it was more clearly recognised. Hence "unit" to me is "component".