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Asked: 2026-05-25T11:00:17+00:00

I am trying to use TDD for my coding practice. I would like to

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I am trying to use TDD for my coding practice. I would like to ask should I test with a data that should not happen in a function BUT this data may possibly break your program.

Here is one of a easy example to illustrate to what I ask :

a ROBOT function that has a one INT parameter. In this function I know that the valid range would only be 0-100. If -1, 101 is used, the function will be break.

function ROBOT (int num){
...
...
...
return result;
}

So I decided some automated test cases for this function…

1. function ROBOT with input argument 0
2. function ROBOT with input argument 1
3. function ROBOT with input argument 10
4. function ROBOT with input argument 100

But should I write test cases with input argument -1 or 101 for this ROBOT function IF I would guard that in my other function that call function ROBOT???

5. function ROBOT with input argument -1
6. function ROBOT with input argument 101

I don’t know if it is necessary cause I think it is redundancy to test -1 and 101. And If it is really necessary to cover all the cases, I have to write more code to guard -1 and 101.

So in Common practice of TDD, will you write test case on -1 and 101 as well???

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    In short, if it can break, then you should test it. Also validate data at the earliest point possible.

    The answer depends on whether you control the inputs passed to Robot. If Robot is an internal class (C#) ; values only flow in from RobotClientX which is a public type. Then I’d put the guard checks in RobotClientX, write tests for it. I’d not write tests for Robot, because invalid values cannot materialize in-between.
    e.g. if I put my validations in the GUI such that all invalid values are filtered off at the source, then I don’t check for invalid values in all classes below the GUI (Unless I’ve also exposed a public API which bypasses the GUI).

    On the other hand, if Robot is publicly visible i.e. Anyone can call Robot with any value that they please, then I need tests that document it’s behavior given specific kinds of input.. invalid being one of them. e.g. if you pass an out-of-range value, it’d throw an ArgumentException.

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