Creating ASP.NET Core MVC Integration Tests – Getting Started

Tests should be created to make your life easier down the line. When you may or my not have to add new functionality or rework some previous code. However Unit tests may not always be enough, so we end up using integration testing as well.

Prerequisites :

*  You might run into some issues when trying to add the necessary using statements. Its a known issue (

In this post I will take about creating a test to check if a particular form is properly rendering as HTML.

Here is what your test controller should look like.

You maybe asking at this point what about our database how will we actually be testing if our application performs CRUD operations properly ? Well for that we are going to being the In-memory database provider for Entity Framework. So that we never actually end up touching our actual DBs.

The only change you have to make once you have added the package is checking if you in development or not in your Startup.cs file. As seen below:

And that is it. Now your ready to start integration testing in .NET Core MVC 🙂

WTF is Bubble Sort ?

Bubble sort is a type of sorting algorithm. Its not the best for everything but it does have its uses. It gets its name since it makes the largest values “bubble” to the top. Bubble sort does its job by using pair comparisons. So it takes the current value and compares it to it’s neighbor directly to the right.

Below you can see what I mean. We first take 5 and compare it 3, then ask the question “is 5 greater then 3 ? ” Then if it is, 5 switches places with 3 and if it isn’t then they stay in the same place, and move on to the next value.


Here you can see a non optimized implementation of it:


Map vs Reduce vs Filter in JavaScript

So these methods are part of the “functional” aspect of JavaScript. JavaScript is a strange language in a good way. Before we get into this, know that all these methods above try to replace the “for” loop, or any other type of loop you can think of.

Some of you might be saying, “I like my loops thank you very much, it is in every language out there !”. And yes that is very true, however these make writing a whole loop for something trivial a thing of the past. So lets get on with it, its not as hard as you probably things it is.

All these methods only working on arrays. And they never modify the array you apply them to. They just return a new array.


As in Mapping “X” to “Y”, or transforming X into Y. In the case of JavaScript you are making a map of your values. You basically just give it a function (could be anonymous) and it applies it to each array element, and forms a new array.


As in reducing something to its essence, or compressing something down. In the case of JavaScript you are taking all your values in an array, and compressing them into something useful.


As in finding something based on a certain set of parameters. I think you guys kinda already know what this particular method does.

I hope this helped you better understand Reduce, Map, and Filter 🙂

Questions People have Asked Me – Part 1

Below are some questions I was recently asked, with my answers. 

Please let me know if any of them are wrong, its a learning opportunity for me 🙂

What is the binary sort algorithm and how does it work? 

The binary sort algorithm (BSA) is used to effectively sort data. It works on the principle of continuously cutting the data set in half, until it finds what it is searching for. However, this algorithm only works on data sets that are already sorted. 

First the BSA checks the middle of the data set and compares the value it is searching for. If this value is the value it is searching for then it stops. However, if it is not equal, it checks if the value it found is bigger or smaller then the value it is trying to find. If the value is smaller, the BSA repeats the process on the left, whereas if the value is bigger it repeats the process on the right. This process is repeated multiple times until the value that the BSA is looking for is found. 

What is recursion and how is it used? 

Recursion in programming is when the program starts calling its self, from inside its self. This programming technique is usually used when a single large program can be solved in smaller parts and has a valid base case. Such as computing the Fibonacci Sequence or traversing a binary search tree. 

What is polymorphism and what is its purpose? 

Polymorphism is an aspect of Object-Oriented Programming where a “object” can take on many different forms, if all the forms are its children.  

Explain when you should use interfaces and when you should use abstract base classes. 

Both interfaces and abstract classes are a type of contract, in the class structures of a software application. Interfaces are a form of contract between two different entities, where you want to separate the functions from the implementations. This is done such that you existing application does not need to change much if a certain part of it is changed. This can be seen in the commonly used repository pattern, which is used to separate data access logic from the business logic. Where as abstract classes are a less extreme version of interfaces, where certain methods defined in it can have real implementations. This allows any child class that inherits from the abstract class to get those method implementations. The difference between the two can be further seen in how their child methods are derived. Since interfaces are “implemented”, where as abstract classes are “extended”. 

When should you use static methods and static variables? And when shouldn’t you use them. 

Static methods and variables can be used from a class without having to instantiate it. This is usually used when, you want to group a set of functionality or utility function together. An example of this is the “Math” class in JAVA, which gives the user all the math related function they need. You wouldn’t want to use them when you would be creating your inheritance-based class structures, most of the time. 


Write a SQL statement to create a table called “author” with the columns “id”, “name”, “age” (for MySQL or SQL Server). 

CREATE TABLE author ( 


name varchar(255) NOT NULL, 

age int, 



Write a SQL statement to create a table called “book” with the columns “id”, “title”, “genre”, “author_id” (for MySQL or SQL Server). 



title varchar(255) NOT NULL, 

genre varchar(255), 

author_id int, 


FOREIGN KEY (`author_id`) REFERENCES `author` (`id`) ON DELETE CASCADE); 


For the “author” and “book” tables created above, write a SQL statement to tell you the number of books each author has written, but only for authors who have written 2 or more books. The output should not show authors that have written only 1 book. The output should have the author’s name and the number of books they have written. 

SELECT, COUNT(*) AS ‘# books’ FROM author, book WHERE = book.author_id GROUP BY HAVING COUNT(*) > 1; 


In databases, what are indexes used for and how to you decided how to use them effectively. 

Indexes in databases are used to speed up data retrieval. However, they come at the additional cost of space, and added complexity to database maintenance. They should only ever be used when the same type, or group of data is constantly being accessed. If the number of reads get even larger, there should also be some sort of caching layer the application queries, such that it doesn’t need to query the SQL database directly. 


What is the value of unit testing and what are some of your strategies for writing good unit tests? 

Unit testing is used to test the functionality of the different parts of an application. Its value lies in the fact that they make the programmer, test their code in a systematic way. And feeds into a workflow where tests are run before anything gets committed to the master branch. I think the best way to write a test case, is to write the test before writing the application logic, since it gets you thinking about what edge/special cases to consider. This is also known as the test-driven development approach. 

Getting a Job as a Developer in the Modern Age

I am gonna just  start making fun of stuff below:

I remember a time when simply listing “Java” as language on your resume, was a sure fire way to land a job … the good old days (1990s). Too bad I wasn’t around during the tech bubble. The days when simply adding “.com” to your company name would shoot up its stock price by 50%.

Now … now its early 2019. A time when no one cares if you can actually make stuff with code. No, people and large corporations realized that there is something much more important. And if you are a developer reading this, you already know what that “something” is. Its writing little programs in front of people you don’t know, to do absolutely nothing useful. Yes that’s right, they don’t actually care if can do the job. They just care if you can find a loop in a linked list, or print out a binary tree in descending order. Cause everyone knows that it is exactly what you need when making your web page, or UI, or implementing  business logic (cause everyone knows that every simple piece of logic needs a tree data structure in there somewhere right ?).

Now I am gonna stop making fun of stuff.

I write to let “people” (who these people are, I will never really know) that I am gonna be  starting a series of set of posts talking about all the stuff, I am currently doing to work for someone else.





WTF is are Stacks, Queues, and Deques ?


A stack is a stack of books, or a stack of sandbags or a stack of elephants or even a stack of unicorns. Basically a stack is anything that follows LIFO (Last In First Out), which means that if the last thing you put onto the stack is the first thing you have to take out, then its a stack.

Lets say you build a tower of blocks, that tower is a stack. Why ? Cause to get to the block at the base you need to take off all the other blocks. Below you will see a visual example of what I am talking about.




A Queue in programming is the same thing as the Queue while in line to buy food, or go to a movie, or get into a night club, its a first come first serve basis. Meaning the first thing to get out of a Queue was the first thing to go into the Queue.

You can also think of Queues as pipes that transport things. In the case of plumbing, the steel pipe and the water moving through it the Queue. Since the water that first enters the pipe is the water that first leaves the pipe.

Below is a diagram to show what I am talking about:




Deques are like the cooler older brother of the Queue, since it lets things flow in more then one direction. Now the user of the data structure can choose how they take elements out of it. If you understood how Queues worked, then you should be able to understand the diagram below.