What is the difference between mocking and stubbing in testing?

What is the difference between mocking and stubbing in testing?

Mocking and stubbing are both techniques used in unit testing to isolate components. Stubbing provides predefined responses to calls made during the test, while mocking verifies that certain interactions occurred.

Can you give me an example of when to use a stub?

Sure! You might use a stub when you want to simulate a database call that returns a fixed set of data without actually hitting the database.

And when would I use a mock instead?

You would use a mock when you need to verify that a specific method was called with the correct parameters, ensuring that your code interacts with dependencies as expected.

Are there any libraries that help with mocking and stubbing?

Yes, popular libraries like Mockito for Java, Sinon for JavaScript, and unittest.mock for Python provide robust support for both mocking and stubbing.