Testing Framework is an object-oriented approach to Programmer Tests pioneered in Kent Beck's 1994 Testing Framework package for Smalltalk, later renamed SUnit (Smalltalk Unit). Beck's approach and code have since been adopted and ported to numerous other environments and languages.
Have an object (Test Case) manage the execution of a single test. Each test should be isolated from the others, so it creates all its data before executing and destroys it when it's done (setUp() and tearDown()). Composites of tests (Test Suite) allow many tests to be run together. Passing a Collecting Parameter (Test Collector/Test Result) to the tests as they run allows the collection of statistics. That's the framework - three objects (Test Case, Test Suite, Test Result).
There are simpler ways of running automated tests, and many, many more complicated ways, but this architecture seems to hit a sweet spot.
See also Testing Frameworks, Framework For Integrated Test, Category Mock Objects - for Mock Object generation frameworks, en.wikipedia.org 
Originated in
www.xprogramming.com Simple Smalltalk Testing: With Patterns Kent Beck (reprint of the October 1994 *Smalltalk Report* article)
Chapter 30 "Simple Smalltalk Testing", in Kent Beck's Guide to Better Smalltalk by Kent Beck, Donald G. Firesmith (Editor), Cambridge University Press, December 1998, ISBN 9780521644372
Source code Regression Testing libraries, by language:
(see also a similar list at xprogramming.com )
Ada Unit - Ada
Ant Unit = task library for the Apache Ant build tool.
As Unit - (ASUnit) for Action Script [in progress]
As Tuce - (ASTUce) for Action Script 3.0
ACT - Advanced CUint Test for C on LINUX, Windows, Embedded system See kldp.net
Cee Unit - "cUnit" for C. A Unit testing framework for C that depends on glib.
cfix - xUnit testing framework for Win32. Minimizes effort to author tests. Tests are compiled into a DLL rather than an EXE. A testrunner is provided to (selectively) run fixtures of one or more DLLs. GPL licensed. See cfix.sourceforge.net
CGreen [Cee Green] - Open source Unit testing framework for C. Includes process separation of tests and mock functions. See sourceforge.net
Check Framework - A mature well-tested unit test framework for C
CUT - C Unit Tester system. See www.falvotech.com for version 2.4, and www.falvotech.com for CUT 3.0pre1. Portable across all platforms which support Python; does not rely on any libraries (except its own), and is not an SUnit-clone (it relies on a Test Collector to aggregate tests). Suitable for embedded unit testing. CUT 3 promises to be easier to use from within IDEs via error messages resembling the error reports from popular compilers.
ctest - astranetwork.com
CUnit [Cu Nit] - Standard 'C', Platform independent unit testing framework - cunit.sourceforge.net
Cu Test - C. Works on Windows with MSVC and BCC32 (does not depend on glibc)
In The Guard - A simple C test harness intended for testing C libraries during installation.
MinUnit - A minimal unit testing framework for C - www.jera.com
Cutter [Cutter Testing Framework] - An easy to use unit testing framework for C - cutter.sourceforge.net
CUnitWin32 [CeeUnitWin32] - Lean and mean framework with truly independent tests (e.g. global/static variables are initialised between tests). See code.google.com
C2Unit - Yet another C unit testing framework - github.com
Cee Plus Plus (Why So Many Cee Plus Plus Test Frameworks, Considerations For And Comparison Of Cee Plus Plus Test Frameworks):
cfix - xUnit testing framework for Win32. Minimizes effort to author tests. Tests are compiled into a DLL rather than an EXE. A testrunner is provided to (selectively) run fixtures of one or more DLLs. GPL licensed. See cfix.sourceforge.net
Cpp Test Harness (a modernized and upgraded flavor of Cpp Unit Lite)
Cpp Unit does C# as well as C++; 1.12 version shows some weird runtime errors
Cpp Utx Overview - an excellent alternative to Cpp Unit, though you need to implement parts yourself.
Cutee, C++ Unit Testing Easy Environment. See codesink.org
Managed C++ - Cs Unit (available for free under GPL)
Rw Cpp Unit - C++ with Rogue Wave and no Standard Template Library
Test Soon - C++ with Macro Metaprogramming. See testsoon.sf.net
TUT - C++ Templates. See tut.dozen.ru
Any Unit - addin for Microsoft Visual Studio.NET to support any C++ unit testing framework through customizable layouts. See www.anyunit.com
Unit Test++ (this should be first in the list :-) --RS) - See www.gamesfromwithin.com
CUnitWin32 [CeeUnitWin32] - Lean and mean framework with truly independent tests (e.g. global/static variables are initialised between tests). See code.google.com
Cute Test - with eclipse plug-in, modern header-only design
Catch Test - modern header-only design
Cs Unit (available for free under GPL)
And see also the list of test frameworks for .NET, listed below.
See the list of Common Lisp test frameworks at www.cliki.net
See the misnamed Common Lisp Unit which describes the CL Regression Test framework RT by Richard Waters
CLOS-unit a CLOS implementation for CLOS/Lisp unit testing. See a.die.supsi.ch
Emacs Lisp (Regress El), Lisp Unit, Common Lisp Unit -- (Not "Star Unit" libraries, but useful, nonetheless.)
cfcUnit - A unit testing framework for Cold Fusion Components. See www.cfcunit.org
cfunit - Cold Fusion. See www.macromedia.com
CFTestingKit - Cold Fusion. See cftestingkit.sourceforge.net
CFUnit - Cold Fusion. See cfunit.sourceforge.net
MXUnit - Cold Fusion. Unit Test Framework and Eclipse Plug-in for CFMX 6-7-8. See mxunit.org
Rocket Unit - Cold Fusion. Unit Testing Framework. Single CFC implementation. See rocketunit.riaforge.org
Bubelen Project - Bubelen is a Delphi integrated system for building and maintaining bubbles. A bubble is a piece of code for testing, developing, profiling, debugging, and stress testing. Bubelen is open source.
Delphi Unit - A couple of different Delphi testing frameworks
Eiffel Unit - Unit test framework for Eiffel (formally known as ETest or Eiffel Test)
Ga Unit - for Gauche
Gro Unit - for Groovy
Quick Check - an automated "agitator"-style test generator
Haskell Unit - xUnit-style tester, for Test Driven Development
Icon Unit - Icon Language unit test suite
Io Unit Test - for the Io Language
Concordi On - acceptance testing from plain English descriptions of behaviour. See www.concordion.org
Lobo, Continuous Tuning - for performance testing and monitoring. See it at www.oncast.com.br .
Test En Gee (TestNG) - Advanced testing framework for Java. See www.testng.org
Java Unit - "JUnit" library for Java. (a Wiki-unfriendly name). There's also Jakarta Cactus: a server-side unit testing framework that extends JUnit.
actiWATE - Java, for testing web applications, emulates browser, supports Java Script. See www.actiwate.com
Db Unit = JUnit extension targeted for database-driven projects.
Jameleon - An Automated Testing Tool - jameleon.sourceforge.net (in Java, for general acceptance testing)
JBehave (Jay Behave) - for Behavior Driven Development
Jweb Unit = Facade Pattern refactoring on top of Http Unit and Java Unit.
Qe Test - for Java, hosted in Xalan-J
Tag Unit - for JSP custom tags
WebUI for JUnit - JUnit UI framework allows running your unit tests through web browser. www.softxp.com
Html Unit - based on the apache httpclient utilities, for use within JUnit
J2MEUnit - for Java 2 Micro Edition - j2meunit.sourceforge.net
a good list of Java Language testing tools - opensourcetesting.org
Jut Land ("Java Unit Testing - Light, Adaptable 'n' Discreet") by Kevlin Henney -- [not downloadable?]
Ie Unit - Java Script testing framework for Internet Explorer
As Tuce - (ASTUce) for Java Script, JScript, Action Script, etc.
Test Simple - TAP-based testing framework
Jsn Unit - Java Script Testing Framework for Asp Dot Net client and server
Kay Unit - for K (Kay Language) and KSQL
lunit - A unit testing framework for Lua - www.mroth.net
Matlab (Matlab Language)
The MATLAB Unit Test Framework - www.mathworks.com
xUnit - www.mathworks.co.uk
MUnit - xtargets.com
mlUnit_2008a - www.mathworks.co.uk
mlUnit - sourceforge.net
Unit testing tools - www.mathworks.com
MATUnit - www.mathworks.com
munit - www.mathworks.com
Unit Kit - Strictly speaking, of Mac OS X only, as it is tightly integrated with XCode.
Perl Tap - the basis of the standard Perl testing framework.
Lectro Test - automatic, specification-based testing for Perl.
Perl Actor - automated executable acceptance test framework for Perl.
Perl Test Class - another xUnit framework for Perl, built on top of Perl Tap
Php Unit - for PHP3
Simple Test - PHP unit tester and Web Tester with Mock Object generation
PLSQL (Pee Ell Ess Queue Ell Language):
Pl Unit - unit testing framework for PL/SQL Oracle 8i and higher
Pl Sql Unit - (aka utPLSQL) for PL/SQL (Oracle 7.3.4 and higher)
Power Builder Unit (PBUnit) - for Power Builder
Doc Test - for Python: test cases serve as documentation examples and vice versa.
Python Unit - for Python Language (various offerings)
Test Oob - extensions for Python Unit
Pikzie [Pikzie Testing Framework] - An easy to write/debug Unit Testing Framework for Python. - pikzie.sourceforge.net
R (Argh Language):
RUnit - cran.r-project.org
Rebol Unit - for Rebol Language
Ruby Test Unit - for Ruby Language
RSpec - for Ruby Language - rspec.info
Scheme Unit - as minimalistic as Scheme itself
Sh Unit - for Bourne-derived shells
Smalltalk Unit - the original; for the Smalltalk Language
Sml Unit (SMLUnit is included in the SML# distributions)
SQL-PL
db2unit - Unit testing framework for IBM DB2 for LUW: github.com
Tcl (Tool Command Language):
Deja Gnu - The GNU testing framework, based on Expect (which in turn is built on Tcl).
Xo Unit - for Extended Object Tcl (Extended Object Tcl)
TransactSQL:
Tsql Unit - for Transact-SQL (Microsoft SQL Server)
Asp Unit - test Active Server Pages (from Visual Basic)
Com Unit - for Microsoft Visual Basic and COM
Cs Unit - Visual Basic .NET (available for free under GPL)
ExcelUnit - see Vba Unit
Simply Vb Unit - a VB6 unit testing framework
Vba Unit - for Visual Basic For Applications (which gets around Vb Unit's incompatibility with VBA)
Vb Lite Unit - a really light-weight test platform for VB and VBA that works pretty darn well.
Vb Unit - Visual Basic (for VB6) [See Also Dot Net Unit and "Dot Net platform" below]
See the list of test frameworks for .NET, listed below.
Fox Unit - an Open Source unit testing framework for VFP. See www.foxunit.org
Wo Unit Test - for Web Objects
Xb Unit - for Xbase++
XML (Extensible Markup Language):
XML Schema Unit Test (SUT): sut.sourceforge.net
Xml Unit - for assertions about XML using Junit and Java JAXP
Xslt Unit - for XSLT Stylesheets
Xo Unit - for Extended Object Tcl (Extended Object Tcl) of the Tool Command Language (Tcl)
Multi-Language Testing Frameworks:
Tet Works - (aka TET) Open Group multi-lingual test framework
For the Dot Net platform (a grouping)
Dot Net Unit - for the Dot Net platform
Harness It - .Net languages (commercial tool with "a modest fee")
Mb Unit - Unit testing and Model-Based testing. See mbunit.tigris.org
NUnitAsp - Extension to NUnit for testing ASP.NET applications:
nunitasp.sourceforge.net
Nunit Framework - NUnit for the .Net platform. See sourceforge.net
Ex Unity - "X-Unity" testing for .Net platform (name Wikized), commercial tool
Power Shell Scripts For Testing - to write tests in Power Shell, which can access, run and test functionality in the Dot Net CLR.
Zane Bug - Advanced unit testing tool for .Net platform (NUnit compatibility).
"Open Source Testing Tools in C#", a listing:
csharp-source.net
Xunit Dot Net - NUnit (Nunit Framework replacement):
www.codeplex.com
For HTTP:
Http Unit - for web server testing
Html Unit - for web server testing
Web Inject - Web/HTTP Test Framework - www.webinject.org
Selenium - client-side web application testing - selenium.thoughtworks.com
Diesel Test - in Delphi 5, for Windows NT
Tellurium - Automated Web Testing Framework - code.google.com
For the Zope Application Server:
See Zope Unit for list of Testing Frameworks that run in the Zope Application Server.
Works in all languages:
Ne Unit - a GUI front end for multiple back end Testing Frameworks. Currently C/C++ & Python.
Data Driven:
Concordi On - acceptance testing from plain English descriptions of behaviour. See www.concordion.org
Fit Wiki / FIT / Framework For Integrated Test = multi-language table driven acceptance testing tool
Fit Nesse = FIT and tools, all rolled into one
Forte Tool Unit - Forte 4GL (TOOL)
Jx Unit = XML driven testing (for Java)
Automated Test Generation:
JTest by Parasoft (Java Test)
Agitar's Agitator (Agitars Agitator)
NTest by Incenteus
Quick Check for the Haskell Language.
Model-Based Tesing (MBT):
Test Optimal, xml based scripts, Data-Driven Testing(DDT), requirements tracking, see TestOptimal.com
"lint" Type "Smell Detectors":
Pee Em Dee (PMD) -- pmd.sourceforge.net
Diesel Test - scripted web testing in Delphi 5, for Windows NT
The Grinder - "The Grinder, a Java Load Testing Framework"
JMeter (Java Meter) - jakarta.apache.org
Mercury Interactive's Load Runner - www-svca.mercuryinteractive.com
Open Sta (Open System Testing Architecture) - A distributed software testing architecture based on CORBA.
RUBiS - "RUBiS can be used from a web browser for testing purposes or with the provided benchmarking tool." - rubis.objectweb.org
See also:
xprogramming.com - Ron Jeffries's list. (If the URL fails, use Url Mangling.)
www.manageability.org - "Open Source Automated Test Tools Written in Java"
www.opensourcetesting.org - "Java unit testing tools"
java-source.net - "Open Source Testing Tools in Java"
java-source.net - "Open Source Web Testing Tools in Java"
csharp-source.net - "Open Source Testing Tools in C#"
en.wikipedia.org - Wikipedia list, much like this page
How do I do test-then-code with C in embedded systems? Is there anywhere I can go where people are discussing this? I'm getting the idea that it's possible - even on simple PIC or AVR processors. Has anyone tried it?
You've cobbled up an equivalent under Bourne shells with functions. Contact me for details. One trick I found useful has been to put unit tests (for shell files to be sourced) after a "am I being sourced" guard, and run the unit tests if being executed. - Joseph Beckenbaumer. -- KFrede
I need an Email Unit ... pop, smtp, imap, ... David Escala
See sourceforge.net -- Markus Srank
As some of our test suites get large, we need to speed up our tests so we can run them quickly. Toplink In Memory allows us to stub out the database so that we can continue to run all tests before checking in! -- Ted Ogrady
One of the pieces of information that is demonstrably missing about xUnit lore is when the first version of sUnit came into existence. It can't be any later than 1995, I'd expect, since that's when C3 happened, and thus, XP came into being. I'm pretty sure sUnit existed at least at that time. But, did it exist even before then? If so, when? -- Samuel Falvo
I would appreciate it if folks (or that Shark thingie :) ) would stop removing my updates to CUT, a unit testing package that I wrote. Thank you. :) -- Samuel Falvo
See original on c2.com