RSECon 2024 workshop: An Introduction to Test-Driven Development

This repository contains materials to support the workshop An Introduction to Test-Driven Development, delivered at RSECon 2024.

Workshop Prerequisites

The programming language used throughout the workshop will be Python, so you should be comfortable programming in this language and come expecting to write code, in whatever IDE / text editor works for you. In particular, you should have Python installed on the machine you bring to the workshop.

We will be using the Pytest package for Python in this workshop. Experience of testing with Pytest is helpful but not essential: we'll only be using the most basic features of Pytest, and will explain them during the workshop.

Ahead of the workshop, you will need to

1. Download / clone the workshop materials (this repository!).
2. Create a virtual environment / Conda environment with required third party Python packages, using the Pip requirements file envs/requirements.txt or the Conda environment spec file envs/conda.yml.
3. Verify that Pytest was successfully installed into the environment created in 2.

Details on how to do this are provided below, should you need them.

Although not essential, you may wish to have Git installed to pull in any changes to the material during the workshop, in the event that this is required.

Step 1: Download / Clone this Repository

Clone this repository using Git or download the contents of this repository as a zip archive (and unzip it). If you require details on how to do this, you can refer to the following GitHub documentation links:

• Cloning a repository
• Downloading a zip archive of the repository from the main branch (Refer to the section, Downloading source code archives from the repository view.)

Step 2: Create a Virtual / Conda Environment with Required Packages

We recommend that you create a separate virtual / Conda environment for installing the Python packages required for this workshop. You can use the Python module venv for this, or Conda if you have this installed (or another way of your choosing, if you have a favourite). See below if you require details on how to do this.

Option 1: Via venv:

1. Create a new venv virtual environment called .venv in the root folder of this repository on your local machine. You can find instructions to do this in the section Create a new virtual environment from the Python Packaging User Guide on using virtual environments and pip.

2. Next, make sure to activate the virtual environment. Assuming you are located in the parent directory of the repository, run the following from a terminal (or a suitable command prompt for Windows):

   MacOS / Unix:

   source .venv/bin/activate
   

   Windows:

   .venv\Scripts\activate
   

3. Install the packages from the Pip requirements file envs/requirements.txt.

   MacOS / Unix:

   python3 -m pip install -r envs/requirements.txt
   

   Windows:

   py -m pip install -r envs\requirements.txt
   

Option 2: Via conda:

1. Assuming you have conda installed, and are located in the parent directory of the repository, create a new environment from the file envs/conda.yml, by running the following from a terminal (or suitable command prompt for Windows):

   MacOS / Unix:

   conda env create -f envs/conda.yml
   

   Windows:

   conda env create -f envs\conda.yml
   

   This should create a new Conda environment, called tdd-workshop, with Python and Pytest installed within.

2. Activate the Conda environment:

   conda activate tdd-workshop
   

Step 3: Verify Pytest installation in virtual / Conda environment

Step 2 should have installed Pytest into the virtual environment / Conda environment that you created. To verify this, activate the environment and run the following from a terminal (or suitable command prompt for Windows), verifying that you don't get an error:

pytest --version

If this runs without error then you are all set for the workshop! We look forward to welcoming you.