Remove the verb “Should” from your unit test descriptions please

I just feel like sharing my opinion about a somewhat trivial, minor thing in programming. I never really understood why so many projects have unit tests which are labeled as “Should do x” or “Should not be y”. The unit test performs a certain action, and has an assertion to test if the outcome matches your expectation.

Example class and method in Javascript:

class Foo {
    bar(){
        return "baz";
    }
}
module.exports = Foo;

Javascript unit test with Jasmine syntax

let foo;
describe("Foo", function(){
    beforeEach(function(){
        foo = new Foo();
    });
    describe(".bar", function(){
        beforeEach(function(){
            result = foo.bar();
        });
        // I USE THIS
        it("returns 'baz'", function(){
            expect(result).toEqual("baz");
        });
        // WITH SHOULD IT LOOKS LIKE THIS
        it("should return 'baz'", function(){
            expect(result).toEqual("baz");
        });
    });
});

I think all the “should do x” stuff messes up your reports as well.

Javascript unit test run console output

Foo
  .bar
    v returns 'baz'
    v should return 'baz'

I think the explicit names, which describe actually what is performed, makes much more sense. When it fails, you directly see what the test performed. Even though it is a minor change, I think it really gives people a better feeling of what they are testing and it just seems semantically make more sense.

I also had a bit of discussion with someone who had a strong disagreement with my approach, can’t remember the reasons unfortunately. Please let me know in the comments what your thoughts are. Happy coding!