What are the differences between mocking and stubbing in testing?

What are the differences between mocking and stubbing in testing?

Mocking and stubbing are both techniques used in unit testing to isolate components. Stubbing provides predefined responses to method calls, while mocking verifies that certain methods were called with specific parameters.

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

Sure! You might use a stub when you want to simulate a method that returns a fixed value, like a database call that returns a user object without actually querying the database.

And when would I use a mock instead?

You would use a mock when you need to verify interactions, such as ensuring that a method was called a certain number of times or with specific arguments.

Are there any tools that can help with mocking and stubbing?

Yes, there are several tools like Mockito for Java, Sinon.js for JavaScript, and unittest.mock for Python that facilitate mocking and stubbing.