Combining Example-Based and Property-Based Testing in Elixir

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Combining Example-Based and Property-Based Testing in Elixir

Source: andrealeopardi.com

Type: Post

Andrea Leopardi, an advocate of property-based testing, explains a hybrid testing approach that brings together example-based tests and property-based tests. This approach is particularly useful for stateless functional code in Elixir. Leopardi highlights that while property-based tests are powerful for testing a wide range of inputs, including corner cases, they may not always capture semantically incorrect solutions. Hence, complementing them with example-based tests can act as sanity checks for real-life inputs and prevent such oversights. Leopardi details an example of this practice by discussing how he applied it to the 'parse_nanoseconds/1' function in the Protobuf library for Elixir. The combo of both testing strategies ensures robust testing that benefits from the strengths of both, while mitigating their individual weaknesses. Andrea offers insights from actual projects and references his co-authored book, 'Testing Elixir', for further reading on the subject.

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