The Peeping Tom

Definition:

• A test that, due to the shared resources, can see the result data of another test, and may cause the test to fail even though the system under test is perfectly valid. This has been seen commonly in Fitnesse, where the use of static member variables to hold collections aren’t properly cleaned after test execution, often popping up unexpectedly in other test runs.

Also Known As:

• The Uninvited Guests

References:

Quality attributes

• - Code Example

• - Cause and Effect

• - Frequency

• - Refactoring

• Anti-Patterns - Digital Tapestry

• Categorising Test Smells

• Test-Driven Development: TDD Anti-Patterns