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

Needle

http://needle.spree.de/

XCTest

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/xctest
Programming language

Java

Swift

Category

Unit Testing

Unit Testing, Performance 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

XCTest is the default testing framework for unit tests, performance tests, and some level of UI tests for iOS apps.

XCTest framework is a testing framework that enables developers write basic unit tests, performance tests, and some level of UI tests for iOS apps.
xUnit
Set of frameworks originating from SUnit (Smalltalk's testing framework). They share similar structure and functionality.

No

Yes

Yes, it is an xUnit style framework
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

Developers can test individual front-end components with XCTest
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

Yes, developers can test individual back-end components with XCTest
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

XCTest contains setup() and teardown() fixture methods for setting up and destroying test environments
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 fixtures are available in XCTest
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

Apache License 2.0

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

You can create protocol mocks and class mocks with libraries such as MockFive or Cuckoo
Grouping
Allows organizing tests in groups

N/A

Yes

Developers can define test suites from the XCTestSuite class
Other
Other useful information about the testing framework