Needle vs Atoum comparison of testing frameworks
What are the differences between Needle and Atoum?

	Needle http://needle.spree.de/	Atoum http://atoum.org/
Programming language	Java	PHP
Category	Unit Testing	Unit Testing
General info	Needle is a lightweight framework for testing Java EE components outside of the container in isolation Needle reduces the test setup code by analysing dependencies and has automatic injection of mock objects by default. Therefore It will maximize the speed of development as well as the execution of unit tests	Atoum is a unit testing framework specific to the PHP language Atoum is similar to SimpleTest and is designed to be implemented rapidly, simplify test development and allow for writing reliable, readable, and clear unit tests
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 You can test front-end components and functionality by testing individual front-end classes and functions	Yes Autom can perform unit tests on various front-end components and behaviours
Server-side Allows testing the bahovior of a server-side code	Yes You can test back-end components and functionality.one of needles features is database testing via a JPA (Java Persistence API) like hibernate	Yes Autom can perform unit tests on servers/back-end components
Fixtures Allows defining a fixed, specific states of data (fixtures) that are test-local. This ensures specific environment for a single test	Yes It has setUp() and tearDown() functions which are mostly used to execute database operations	Yes By using the 'given()' method to setup your environment
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.	Yes The setUp() and tearDown functions can be used to define an environment for a group of tests	Yes By using the 'given()' method to setup your environments
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.	N/A	N/A
Licence Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software	GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1	Atoum License
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 One of needle's features is automatic injection of mock objects, it supports EasyMock and Mockito out of the box	Yes By use of autom mocks which are decoupled and easier to maintain
Grouping Allows organizing tests in groups	N/A	Yes By use of an extension for autom called blackfire which allows you to write blackfire test suites.
Other Other useful information about the testing framework