[Tutor] Regarding A minor styling issue in python

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Sat, Mar 24, 2018 at 12:32:33PM -0500, Neerja Narayanappa wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> For example, suppose I have a method name “_pen_namespace” and I would 
> like to write a test case to check this method, should my function 
> name look like
> 
> 1. test__pen_namespace_for something
> or
> 2. test_pen_namespance_for_something

Neither. The first is a syntax error, because you have a space in the 
name, and the second is confusingly named "namespance".

The rule I use when writing unit tests, is that if I write a test for a 
private function, I drop the leading underscore from the test. Having 

    test__spam

is too easy to mistype, so I just use

    test_spam

even if spam is a private method. So in your case, I would write:

    test_pen_namespace

if it includes *all* _pen_namespace tests, and if it only includes a 
subset, I would probably use names like:

    test_pen_namespace_fail_on_condition
    test_pen_namespace_fail_on_bad_values
    test_pen_namespace_return_value
    test_pen_namespace_check_something

and so forth.


-- 
Steve