Knapsack Pro

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

Needle

http://needle.spree.de/

RSpec

https://rspec.info
Programming language

Java

Ruby

Category

Unit Testing

Unit Testing, Intergration 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

Domain Specific Language (DSL) testing solution for Ruby code

It focuses on empowering Test Driven Development (TDD). RSpec contains multiple smaller libraries, which may be independently used with other testing frameworks.
xUnit
Set of frameworks originating from SUnit (Smalltalk's testing framework). They share similar structure and functionality.

No

Yes

Yes, but it differs from more traiditional xUnit solutions. Its tests are written in a "Tests as Specification" manner. This means that the terminology used in RSpec is adjusted to a language more fitting for specification.
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

RSpec is used to primarily test the behaviour of applications or individual components so it can test front-end behaviour as well - you can use capybara gem with RSpec for that.
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

You can test server-side behaviour with Rspec
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

RSpec does contain fixture methods
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

Group fixture methods are supported
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

Yes

RSpec contains generators for example intergration_'test_name' which will save a spec inside the spec/requests folder
Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1

MIT 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

Available through rspec-mocks gem.
Grouping
Allows organizing tests in groups

N/A

Yes

Allows declaring example groups and contexts.
Other
Other useful information about the testing framework