Anonymous
7/21/2025, 5:45:19 PM No.105978607
Curious what /g/'s thoughts are on the matter
Ideally you have both in any given codebase but let's say you have to pick one or the other to prioritize and make first class. I've long been taught that integration tests are usually flawed and should take a backseat to unit testing. In unit testing you can mock out dependencies and test/validate atomic units, it tends to be way less flaky and free of false positives.
But on the flipside integration tests offer stronger peace of mind. They test your system end to end and can spot failure points immediately, which is HIGHLY valuable in CI/CD pipelines.
Imo starting from scratch I would design my system to be as contained and integration testable as possible and make it the first priority, with unit tests being implemented as time allows. Int tests offer greater power and peace of mind and their value has only risen as manual QA/regression testers have become more antiquated.
Ideally you have both in any given codebase but let's say you have to pick one or the other to prioritize and make first class. I've long been taught that integration tests are usually flawed and should take a backseat to unit testing. In unit testing you can mock out dependencies and test/validate atomic units, it tends to be way less flaky and free of false positives.
But on the flipside integration tests offer stronger peace of mind. They test your system end to end and can spot failure points immediately, which is HIGHLY valuable in CI/CD pipelines.
Imo starting from scratch I would design my system to be as contained and integration testable as possible and make it the first priority, with unit tests being implemented as time allows. Int tests offer greater power and peace of mind and their value has only risen as manual QA/regression testers have become more antiquated.