What are fixtures in programming?

Question

I have heard of this term many times (in the context of programming) but couldn\'t find any explanation of what it meant. Any good articles or explanations?

Answer 1

I'm writing this answer as quick note for myself on what is "fixture".

same-data-multiple-tests

Test Fixtures: Using the Same Data Configuration for Multiple Tests If you find yourself writing two or more tests that operate on similar data, you can use a test fixture. This allows you to reuse the same configuration of objects for several different tests.

you can read more at googletest

fixtures can be used for during integration test or during development (lets say ui development where data is comming from development database

fake users for database or testing

myproject/fixtures/my_fake_user.json

[
  {
    "model": "myapp.person",
    "pk": 1,
    "fields": {
      "first_name": "John",
      "last_name": "Lennon"
    }
  },
  {
    "model": "myapp.person",
    "pk": 2,
    "fields": {
      "first_name": "Paul",
      "last_name": "McCartney"
    }
  }
]

you can read more from django docs