Most introductions to unit testing give very simple examples of functions that simply receive some arguments and produce a result. However a lot of software has to read input from external sources, such as from the internet, from the file system, or from the user during its execution. How does one write tests for such software?

For simple software that only reads a few files from the file system, I imagine can be tested by writing some files for the test to give to the tested program, but what if it becomes more complex? Or what if you are trying to test a web scrapper for a website, would the tests run a web server and simulate the targetted website? Or for the GUI, how would one test that the user can see what they are supposed to see, when they click a certain way at a certain time?

Maybe the parts that read the data shouldn't be tested and only the functions that code relies on should be tested? I don't know.

Hi! I'm a self-taught novice programmer trying to write a macro in javascript for ImageJ. I've built a program that I think works, but trying to debug it without a proper debugger has been hell. I'm a hair away from just giving up and rewriting the whole thing in the program's native macro language. I looked online and it seems like I should be able to set up a debugging environment in Visual Studio Code, but I couldn't find any guide for doing that specifically for ImageJ. I use Visual Studio Code to write my javascript, but any advice on any platform or even just what I need to find to get started would be helpful. Thank you!

I've been working through the homework and feeling good. I think I want to take the first exam on Oct 1. Anyone done this before? I'm successfully getting through homework, but looking for tips on what else I can do to prepare to successfully pass the exam.

Although it's free...I already took the morning off from my hourly job to take the exam...so...I really want, not just to pass, but really kill it!