Knapsack Pro

Ginkgo vs SimpleTest comparison of testing frameworks
What are the differences between Ginkgo and SimpleTest?

Ginkgo

http://onsi.github.io/ginkgo/

SimpleTest

https://github.com/simpletest/simpletest
Programming language

Go

PHP

Category

Unit Testing, Intergration Testing

Unit Testing, Web Testing

General info

BDD testing framework for Go

Ginkgo is a BDD testing framework for Go that has a great matcher library to go with it called Gomega and intergrates with the standard testing library

SimpleTest is a unit test and web test framework for PHP

It has JWebUnit style functionality and support for SSL, forms, frames, proxies and basic authentication
xUnit
Set of frameworks originating from SUnit (Smalltalk's testing framework). They share similar structure and functionality.

No

No

Client-side
Allows testing code execution on the client, such as a web browser

Yes

Yes, by creating unit tests then testing individual front-end components

Yes

With SimpleTest common but fiddly PHP tasks, such as logging into a site, can be tested easily
Server-side
Allows testing the bahovior of a server-side code

Yes

Yes by creating unit tests then testing various back-end components

Yes

Server-side behaviour can be tested by writing simple unit tests to test functionality and behaviour of single components.
Fixtures
Allows defining a fixed, specific states of data (fixtures) that are test-local. This ensures specific environment for a single test

N/A

Yes

It can import fixtures using a mixin like 'given()' method
Group fixtures
Allows defining a fixed, specific states of data for a group of tests (group-fixtures). This ensures specific environment for a given group of tests.

N/A

Yes

It allows grouping of fixtures
Generators
Supports data generators for tests. Data generators generate input data for test. The test is then run for each input data produced in this way.

Yes

They are available by running the command: 'ginko bootstrap'

Yes

Simpletest has support for generators
Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

MIT License

GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1

Mocks
Mocks are objects that simulate the behavior of real objects. Using mocks allows testing some part of the code in isolation (with other parts mocked when needed)

Yes

Dvelopers can generate mocks by using the third party package 'gomock'

Yes

It allows for one to build Mock objects.To create a mock version of a class we need to include the mock object library and run the generator. This will create a clone class which we use to create new instances(objects) in our test cases.
Grouping
Allows organizing tests in groups

Yes

Ginkgo allows you to group tests in 'Describe' and 'Context' container blocks. It also provides 'It' and 'Specify' blocks to hold your assertions

Yes

There are several ways of grouping tests; one is to simply place multiple test cases into a single file, another is to mark any base test cases that should not be run as abstract, Simpletest gives you a couple of options
Other
Other useful information about the testing framework