Knapsack Pro

unittest vs Doctest comparison of testing frameworks
What are the differences between unittest and Doctest?

unittest

https://docs.Python.org/3/library/unittest.html

Doctest

https://docs.Python.org/2/library/doctest.html
Programming language

Python

Python

Category

Unit Testing

Unit Testing

General info

unittest is a unit testing framework for Python

The unittest test framework is Python’s xUnit style framework. It is a standard module that is bundled with Python and supports the automation and aggregation of tests and common setup and shutdown code for them.

Doctest is an inbuilt test framework for Python

Doctest is a test framework that comes prepackaged with Python. It is a simple library with a functionality that makes it possible to search for pieces of text that look like interactive Python sessions and executes these sessions to see if they work exactly as shown.
xUnit
Set of frameworks originating from SUnit (Smalltalk's testing framework). They share similar structure and functionality.

Yes

unittest is a xUnit style frameworkfor Python, it was previously called PyUnit.

No

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

Yes

Front-end functionality and behaviour can be tested by unittest.

Server-side
Allows testing the bahovior of a server-side code

Yes

Since the webserver funtionalities have their own features and each feature has its own functions, we can write tests with unittest to test each function

Fixtures
Allows defining a fixed, specific states of data (fixtures) that are test-local. This ensures specific environment for a single test

Yes

By use of the 'setUp()' function which is called to prepare the test fixture

No

Lacks fixture management which can make writing tests harder
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

unittest allows you to group your initialization code into a setUp function and clean up code in a tearDown function

No

Lacks fixture management
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

unittest contains generator methods in the module 'unittest.TestCase'

N/A

Licence
Licence type governing the use and redistribution of the software

MIT License

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

Mocks are available from the library unittest.mock which allows you to replace parts of your system under test with mock objects

A good external library for using Mocks with Doctest is minimocks
Grouping
Allows organizing tests in groups

Yes

One can build suites either manually or use test discovery to build the suite automatically by scanning a directory

Yes

One can group tests
Other
Other useful information about the testing framework