Hearing the voice of experts: Unveiling Stack Exchange communities' knowledge of test smells

TL;DR

This study analyzes Stack Exchange discussions to understand how developers perceive, discuss, and handle test smells and refactorings, revealing their perceptions and challenges in improving test code quality.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into developer perceptions and practices regarding test smells based on Stack Exchange data, highlighting common concerns and misconceptions.

Findings

Developers frequently discuss perceptions of test smells as good or bad practices.

Stack Exchange serves as a key platform for sharing experiences on test refactoring.

Challenges include identifying suitable refactoring strategies for test smells.

Abstract

Refactorings are transformations to improve the code design without changing overall functionality and observable behavior. During the refactoring process of smelly test code, practitioners may struggle to identify refactoring candidates and define and apply corrective strategies. This paper reports on an empirical study aimed at understanding how test smells and test refactorings are discussed on the Stack Exchange network. Developers commonly count on Stack Exchange to pick the brains of the wise, i.e., to `look up' how others are completing similar tasks. Therefore, in light of data from the Stack Exchange discussion topics, we could examine how developers understand and perceive test smells, the corrective actions they take to handle them, and the challenges they face when refactoring test code aiming to fix test smells. We observed that developers are interested in others' perceptions and hands-on experience handling test code issues. Besides, there is a clear indication that developers often ask whether test smells or anti-patterns are either good or bad testing practices than code-based refactoring recommendations.