Testing strategies #email #programming
Here are two approaches to testing code that sends email, that I have stumbled over recently:
- Ethereal "is a fake SMTP service, mostly aimed at Nodemailer users (but not limited to). It's a completely free anti-transactional email service where messages never get delivered."
- Test mail server on Ubuntu and Debian.
The difference in approach is thought provoking.
Why would you spend the time to implement something that simulates a real mail server, when you can just install a real mail server, and use it to test against?
Why would you test against a simulation (which might have its own set of quirks and shortcomings), rather than the real thing?
Kind of mind boggling to me. But that's apparently what's en vogue.
Also, what on earth does "anti-transactional" mean in this context?!
- Adam ๐๏ธ - 2017-12-26