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Clojure Functional Programming & JVM Backend Development · Lezione

Property-based testing con clojure.test.check

Impari a scrivere test robusti che verifichino le proprietà del codice su un’ampia gamma di input utilizzando `clojure.test.check`

Property-based testing con clojure.test.check è una lezione Clojure Functional Programming & JVM Backend Development gratuita su CoddyKit. Questa è la lezione 3 di 4. Puoi leggere la lezione completa qui gratuitamente — poi esercitati direttamente nel browser con un editor di codice integrato e un tutor IA disponibile 24/7. Fa parte del percorso di apprendimento Clojure Functional Programming & JVM Backend Development, e i tuoi progressi si sincronizzano tra il web e l'app CoddyKit. Il corso Clojure Functional Programming & JVM Backend Development include 4 lezioni in totale.

Parti di questa lezione non sono ancora state tradotte e vengono mostrate in inglese.

Beyond Example Tests

Welcome to Property-Based Testing (PBT)! Traditional unit tests use specific examples to check if your code works. PBT takes a different approach.

Instead of examples, you define properties that your code should always uphold, no matter the input. Then, a PBT tool generates many diverse inputs to try and break those properties.

PBT vs. Example-Based Testing

Think of it this way:

  • Example-Based Testing (like clojure.test): "Does (my-add 2 3) return 5?" You pick the inputs.
  • Property-Based Testing (with clojure.test.check): "Is (my-add a b) always equal to (my-add b a) for any integers a and b?" The tool generates a and b.

PBT is excellent at finding edge cases you might not think of manually.

Defining a Property with for-all

In clojure.test.check, you define a property using the for-all macro. It takes a vector of bindings (variables paired with generators) and a predicate (a function that should return true if the property holds).

Try running this simple property that checks if an integer generated is indeed an integer.

(ns my-project.core
  (:require [clojure.test.check :as tc]
            [clojure.test.check.properties :refer [for-all]]
            [clojure.test.check.generators :as gen]))

(defn run-int-property-check []
  (let [result (tc/quick-check 100
                               (for-all [x gen/int]
                                 (<= x (inc x))))] ; Property: x is always <= x+1
    (println "Property check result:" result)))

(defn -main [& args]
  (run-int-property-check))

Building with Generators

Generators (from clojure.test.check.generators, commonly aliased as gen) are functions that produce random data of a specific type. They are the heart of PBT inputs.

Common generators include gen/int, gen/boolean, gen/string, and many more. You can also combine them!

(ns my-project.core
  (:require [clojure.test.check.generators :as gen]))

(defn generate-and-print []
  (println "Random int:" (gen/generate gen/int))
  (println "Random boolean:" (gen/generate gen/boolean))
  (println "Random string:" (gen/generate gen/string {:max-size 10}))) ; Limit string size for display

(defn -main [& args]
  (generate-and-print))

Executing Property Checks

Once you define a property with for-all, you need to run it. clojure.test.check provides functions like quick-check and check.

  • tc/quick-check N property: Runs the property N times and returns a summary.
  • tc/check property: Provides a more detailed result, especially useful when a property fails.

Here, we check if addition is commutative (a + b = b + a).

(ns my-project.core
  (:require [clojure.test.check :as tc]
            [clojure.test.check.properties :refer [for-all]]
            [clojure.test.check.generators :as gen]))

(defn check-sum-property []
  (let [sum-property (for-all [a gen/int b gen/int]
                               (= (+ a b) (+ b a)))] ; Addition is commutative
    (println "Checking sum property...")
    (let [result (tc/quick-check 100 sum-property)]
      (println "Result:" result))))

(defn -main [& args]
  (check-sum-property))

Practical Property: Reversibility

A common and powerful property to test is reversibility. If you apply an operation and then its inverse, you should get back the original input.

Let's define simple encode and decode functions (which just reverse a string) and check if (decode (encode s)) always yields s.

(ns my-project.core
  (:require [clojure.test.check :as tc]
            [clojure.test.check.properties :refer [for-all]]
            [clojure.test.check.generators :as gen]))

(defn encode [s] (apply str (reverse s))) ; Simple reverse string
(defn decode [s] (apply str (reverse s)))

(defn check-encode-decode-property []
  (let [prop (for-all [s (gen/string-alphanumeric 0 20)] ; Limit string size
                          (= s (decode (encode s))))]
    (println "Checking encode/decode property...")
    (let [result (tc/quick-check 100 prop)]
      (println "Result:" result))))

(defn -main [& args]
  (check-encode-decode-property))

Finding Minimal Failures (Shrinking)

One of the most valuable features of clojure.test.check is shrinking. When a property fails, it doesn't just give you the first failing input. It tries to find the smallest possible input that still causes the failure.

This helps you quickly pinpoint the root cause of a bug. Run this example: my-buggy-function has a subtle bug when input is 0.

(ns my-project.core
  (:require [clojure.test.check :as tc]
            [clojure.test.check.properties :refer [for-all]]
            [clojure.test.check.generators :as gen]))

(defn my-buggy-function [x]
  (if (= x 0) 100 x)) ; Bug: returns 100 if input is 0

(defn check-buggy-property []
  (let [prop (for-all [x gen/int]
                          (> (my-buggy-function x) 0))] ; Property: result is always > 0
    (println "Checking buggy property (expecting failure)...")
    (let [result (tc/quick-check 100 prop)]
      (println "Result (look for 'smallest' failing input):" result))))

(defn -main [& args]
  (check-buggy-property))

Creating Custom Generators

You're not limited to basic generators. You can compose them or transform their output to create generators for more specific data types using functions like gen/fmap and gen/such-that.

gen/fmap (functor map) applies a function to the value produced by another generator. Here, we create a generator for positive integers.

(ns my-project.core
  (:require [clojure.test.check :as tc]
            [clojure.test.check.properties :refer [for-all]]
            [clojure.test.check.generators :as gen]))

(def gen-positive-int
  (gen/fmap #(inc %) gen/nat)) ; gen/nat produces non-negative numbers, inc makes them positive

(defn check-positive-property []
  (let [prop (for-all [x gen-positive-int]
                          (> x 0))] ; Property: x is always greater than 0
    (println "Checking positive integer property...")
    (let [result (tc/quick-check 100 prop)]
      (println "Result:" result))))

(defn -main [& args]
  (check-positive-property))

Composing Generators

For complex data structures, you can combine multiple generators. gen/vector creates a vector of generated items, gen/tuple creates a fixed-size sequence, and gen/hash-map creates maps with generated keys and values.

Here's an example of generating simple 'person' data.

(ns my-project.core
  (:require [clojure.test.check.generators :as gen]))

(def gen-person
  (gen/hash-map :name (gen/string-alphanumeric 3 10)
                :age (gen/choose 1 100)))

(defn generate-people []
  (println "Generating 3 people:")
  (dotimes [n 3]
    (println "  " (gen/generate gen-person))))

(defn -main [& args]
  (generate-people))

Check Your Understanding

Property-Based Testing fundamentally changes how we think about test inputs.

Recap: Robust Testing with PBT

In this lesson, we explored Property-Based Testing with clojure.test.check.

  • You learned to define properties using for-all.
  • We saw how generators (gen/int, gen/string, etc.) create diverse inputs.
  • You used quick-check to run your properties.
  • We discussed the power of shrinking to find minimal failing cases.
  • Finally, you learned to create and compose custom generators for complex data.

PBT is a powerful tool for writing more robust and reliable Clojure applications by testing behaviors across an infinite range of inputs!

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Tutte le lezioni di questo corso

  1. Transducer per un’elaborazione efficiente
  2. Monad e astrazioni funzionali
  3. Property-based testing con clojure.test.check
  4. Sequenze lazy e stream infiniti
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