Knapsack Pro

Tape vs Spek comparison of testing frameworks
What are the differences between Tape and Spek?

Tape

https://github.com/substack/tape

Spek

https://www.spekframework.org/
Programming language

JavaScript

Kotlin

Category

Unit Testing, Intergration Testing

Acceptance Testing, Unit Testing

General info

tap-producing test harness for node and browsers.

Tape API is a small superset of the node core assert module

Spek is a specification framework for Kotlin

Spek is a Kotlin-based Specification Testing framework for the JVM. It works as a JUnit 5 Test Engine meaning that we can easily plug it into any project that already uses JUnit 5 to run alongside any other tests that we might have.
xUnit
Set of frameworks originating from SUnit (Smalltalk's testing framework). They share similar structure and functionality.

Yes

It does support xUnit output

No

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

Yes

You can write tests for any part of your front-end code to test any component or functionality

Yes

Yes you can test front-end behaviour by writing specifications to test front-end functionality. Developers can also write unit tests for individual front-end components.
Server-side
Allows testing the bahovior of a server-side code

Yes

With tape you can test any back-end component, behaviour and functionality after all it supports TAP (Test Anything Protocol)

Yes

You can test back-end behaviour and componets by writing specifications to test back-end functionality and unit tests for individual 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

No

Tape contains only the essential features for making assertions on your code but there is a package called redtape that extends tape to give you beforeEach and afterEach functionality

Yes

Fixtures are available in spek through functions suchas beforeEachTest() and afterEachTest()
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.

No

Yes

spek has group fixtures available through the beforeGroup() and afterGroup() functions
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.

No

N/A

Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

MIT License

Modified BSD 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)

No

Tape is a minimalistic framework that provides only essential features to make your assertions about your code

Yes

You can use the third party library mockito-kotlin
Grouping
Allows organizing tests in groups

No

Tape contains only the essential features for making assertions on your code

Yes

Tests are written using nested lambdas, each scope (level) can either be a group or a test
Other
Other useful information about the testing framework