Unit testing with AutoFixture

One of the greatest challenges in writing maintainable unit tests is to avoid so–called Overspecified Tests – i.e. test which are too tightly coupled to implementation details that are actually irrelevant to the test case at hand. A common symptom is that the Test Fixture (the entire context which must be in place before the actual test can be executed) takes up a lot more space than the test itself.

AutoFixture (http:⁄⁄autofixture.codeplex.com⁄) is a .NET open source library designed to address this issue. It uses reflection and various conventions to deal with all the irrelevant details, enabling the test developer to concentrate on writing unit tests that focus on the relevant action.

In this talk AutoFixture’s creator will use examples to demonstrate how complex unit tests can be reduced to simpler and more maintainable unit tests.