Mocking: virtual reality for your Python tests
summary
Shows how to replace external SMS, API and filesystem calls with Python’s unittest.mock / mock objects, walks through using side_effect and return_value to simulate errors and responses, and demonstrates patch where lookup happens (module vs imported name) plus MagicMock, mock_open, spec and wraps. Examples are concrete: an SMS router and a mobile midwife app, tests that avoid network/files, and patterns to avoid over-mocking. Practical, example-driven and useful if tests touch I/O or external services.
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chapters (12)
- 0:00Intro
- 4:17What is mock
- 5:25How to use mock
- 7:09Return value
- 8:47Deep mocking
- 10:12Magic Mach
- 11:13Magic Mark
- 13:01Mocking a module
- 18:09Spec
- 20:21Wraps
- 21:31Wrapping up
- 22:47Questions
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