#184 - Contract Testing Essentials: A Comprehensive Guide - Lewis Prescott
Tech Lead Journal22 Heinä 2024

#184 - Contract Testing Essentials: A Comprehensive Guide - Lewis Prescott

“Contract testing is a form of testing where you are verifying two systems have the same shared understanding about the expectations."

Lewis Prescott is the coauthor of “Contract Testing in Action”. In this episode, join us to demystify contract testing and its critical role in modern software development. Discover how contract testing ensures reliable software integration, particularly in complex microservice architectures.

Lewis explains the core concepts, the difference between consumer-driven and provider-driven approaches, and how contract testing fits into your testing strategy and CI/CD pipeline. We also touch on the practicalities of implementing contract testing, including tool options like Pact, and how it can also be applied in event-driven architectures.

Whether you’re a seasoned developer or just starting, this episode offers valuable insights to help you level up your software development approach.

Listen out for:

  • Career Journey - [00:01:56]
  • Problems Contract Testing is Solving - [00:04:57]
  • Contract Testing Use Cases - [00:07:20]
  • Contract Testing Components - [00:09:52]
  • Shared Understanding of the Expectations - [00:11:42]
  • Benefits of Contract Testing - [00:15:02]
  • Contract Testing in Testing Pyramid - [00:18:29]
  • Contract vs Unit vs Integration Tests - [00:19:37]
  • Contract Testing for Public APIs - [00:21:28]
  • Types of Contract Testing - [00:22:46]
  • CI/CD Workflow with Contract Testing - [00:25:33]
  • Provider Workflow - [00:31:55]
  • Getting the Buy-In - [00:33:31]
  • Owning the Broker - [00:36:00]
  • Pact & Other Tooling - [00:37:19]
  • Versioning Contracts - [00:39:34]
  • Consumer-Driven Contract Testing - [00:42:15]
  • Contract Testing for Event-Driven Architecture - [00:46:53]
  • 3 Tech Lead Wisdom - [00:49:40]

_____

Lewis Prescott’s Bio
Lewis Prescott is a Test Specialist at IBM. He has 9 years experience in software testing, is a recognized champion of Contract Testing and course author at Test Automation University, as well as an active mentor in the testing community.

Follow Lewis:

_____

Our Sponsors

Enjoy an exceptional developer experience with JetBrains. Whatever programming language and technology you use, JetBrains IDEs provide the tools you need to go beyond simple code editing and excel as a developer.
Check out FREE coding software options and special offers on jetbrains.com/store/#discounts.
Make it happen. With code.


Manning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.
Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats.


Like this episode?
Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/184.
Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.
Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(279)

Software Engineering Laws Every Developer Must Know in the AI Era - Milan Milanovic

Software Engineering Laws Every Developer Must Know in the AI Era - Milan Milanovic

Does moving faster with AI mean you get to skip the laws that governed every software project before it? Milan Milanovic argues the opposite, the old laws of software engineering now apply twice as ha...

10 Elo 1h 1min

Signals & Levers: Systems Thinking to Navigate Software Delivery Illusions - Elisabeth Hendrickson & Joel Tosi

Signals & Levers: Systems Thinking to Navigate Software Delivery Illusions - Elisabeth Hendrickson & Joel Tosi

(04:48) Brought to you by SpeechifyAITired of text-to-speech that sounds robotic or costs too much at scale? SpeechifyAI's new Simba 3.2 model ranks #1 on Artificial Analysis for realness, priced unde...

3 Elo 1h 17min

From Technical Debt to Triple Debt: The Hidden Cost of AI-Generated Code

From Technical Debt to Triple Debt: The Hidden Cost of AI-Generated Code

Is vibe coding quietly draining the thing that makes teams effective: their shared understanding? Margaret breaks down her new “triple debt” model, and why cognitive debt might be the one nobody’s tra...

27 Heinä 1h 10min

Ex-Gojek CTO: Why the Age of AI Rewards Builders as Judgment Becomes Expensive

Ex-Gojek CTO: Why the Age of AI Rewards Builders as Judgment Becomes Expensive

If expertise is becoming almost free, why is judgment becoming the most expensive skill in tech? Ajey Gore, former Gojek CTO, explains why the age of AI agents rewards builders over typists.In this ep...

13 Heinä 1h 22min

The AI Productivity Paradox: Why 10X Output Doesn't Mean 10X Business Outcome

The AI Productivity Paradox: Why 10X Output Doesn't Mean 10X Business Outcome

What if optimizing for AI output is actually slowing your company down? When code becomes nearly free to produce, the organizations still measuring productivity by output are solving the wrong problem...

29 Kesä 1h 5min

The Hidden Stories Sabotaging Your Culture Change

The Hidden Stories Sabotaging Your Culture Change

Why do 70% of change efforts fail — even when leadership is fully committed? The answer isn’t strategy or resources; it’s the hidden stories people unknowingly carry that silently block every initiati...

15 Kesä 1h 8min

Creator of Meta's Hack: Your AI Will Always Cheat — Here's How to Stop It

Creator of Meta's Hack: Your AI Will Always Cheat — Here's How to Stop It

What if your AI coding agent is quietly cheating on your tests — and how do you stop it? Julien Verlaguet, who built the type system Meta used to migrate tens of millions of PHP lines, is now building...

8 Kesä 1h 18min

Eric Ries: Why Good Tech Companies Go Bad, and How to Stop It

Eric Ries: Why Good Tech Companies Go Bad, and How to Stop It

Why do companies with the best intentions end up betraying their customers, employees, and mission? Eric Ries calls it “financial gravity” — an invisible force that pulls even the most principled comp...

1 Kesä 1h