Episode 11: Advice on Getting Started With Testing in Python

The Real Python Podcast

May 29, 2020 58m

Have you wanted to get started with testing in Python? Maybe you feel a little nervous about diving in deeper than just confirming your code runs. What are the tools needed and what would be the next steps to level up your Python testing? This week on the show we have Anthony Shaw to discuss his article on this subject. Anthony is a member of the Real Python team and has written several articles for the site.

We discuss getting started with built-in Python features for testing and the advantages of a tool like pytest. Anthony talks about his plug-ins for pytest, and we touch on the next level of testing involving continuous integration.

Anthony recently finished a talk for PyCon 2020 Online, titled “Why is Python Slow?” He had the idea for the talk while he was working on his upcoming book about the CPython source code.

I also want to give an update on last weeks episode with Kyle Stratis, where we discussed Kyle being let go from his job due to the pandemic. Here’s some good news, Kyle will be joining a Boston startup called Vizit, as a senior data engineer. Congratulations Kyle!

Course Spotlight: The Python print() Function: Go Beyond the Basics

This course will get you up to speed with using Python print() effectively. Prepare for a deep dive as you go through the sections. You may be surprised how much print() has to offer!

Topics:

00:00:00 – Introduction
00:01:46 – PyCon 2020 Online Talk - Why is Python slow?
00:04:05 – CPython Internals Book
00:07:08 – Attending Conferences
00:09:01 – Getting Started with Testing in Python
00:12:32 – Unittest
00:17:16 – What does a tool like pytest add?
00:19:53 – pytest plugins
00:21:03 – Anthony’s pytest plugins
00:21:58 – What does coverage mean?
00:25:23 – Test runners
00:27:12 – Testing environments with Tox
00:30:50 – Real Python Video Course Spotlight
00:31:49 – More on continuous integration (CI)
00:37:21 – Recent changes to GitHub
00:38:21 – PSF to move issue tracker to GitHub
00:41:01 – DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself)
00:43:46 – Benefits of linters and code formatting
00:48:00 – What is a little known part of Python?
00:52:16 – What are you excited about in the world of Python?
00:56:06 – What is something you thought you knew about Python, but were wrong about it?
00:57:27 – Goodbye and thanks

Show links:

Level Up Your Python Skills With These Courses:

Test-Driven Development With pytest

Continuous Integration With Python

The Python print() Function: Go Beyond the Basics

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