Is it bad practice to have more than one assertion in a unit test? [closed]

Answer 1

For me its very common to have more than one assert in a unit test. I usually have an assertion of a precondition and then an assert for the expected post condition.

Consider:

assert(list.isEmpty());

FetchValues(list);

assert(list.count == expectedItemCount);

AssertValuesMatch(list,expectedValues);

Yes, I could split up the two post conditions into two tests but depending on the cost of the FetchValues could slow down the overall test process needlessly.

Answer 2

I don't consider it bad practice. Unit tests can do whatever they want: assert, log to files, send insulting SMS messages to management, anything.

The possible problem is that added complexity may change the behavior of the program under test but that's rarely the case if you're being careful, and can be discovered anyway.