Why Use Automated Testing?

• Benefits of Testing

Every developer has experienced this nightmare: You fix a bug in one part of your application, deploy it to production, and suddenly something else breaks. A "simple" change cascades into hours of debugging. Users report errors you never saw in development. You're afraid to modify code because you might break something.

Automated testing prevents this chaos. Tests are code that verifies your code works correctly. When you make changes, tests run automatically to catch bugs before they reach production. They act as a safety net, giving you confidence to refactor, add features, and fix bugs without fear. Good tests mean fewer production bugs, faster development, and better sleep at night.

UserFrosting includes PHPUnit for testing, and this chapter shows you how to write effective tests that make your application more reliable and maintainable.

Benefits of Testing#

• Catch bugs early: Find issues during development, not in production
• Confidence in changes: Refactor and improve code without fear
• Living documentation: Tests show how code should be used
• Faster debugging: Tests pinpoint exactly what broke
• Better design: Testable code is usually better-structured code

This chapter explains the value of testing and why every professional application needs it.