Are you still writing automated tests “Bottom-Up”, starting with Unit tests? In this video, we challenge the classic TDD approach and share a more pragmatic strategy for real-world B2B applications built with Symfony or Laravel.
We introduce a proven 3-Level “Top-Down” Strategy that focuses on validating business value first, saving significant development time, and avoiding redundant tests.
What you will learn in this deep dive:
✅ Standardization: Clearing the confusion between Laravel’s 2 testing types and Symfony’s 3 types. We define a unified standard: Application, Integration, and Unit tests.
✅ The “Top-Down” Strategy: Why starting with the Application layer is often more efficient than the classic “Bottom-Up” approach for complex business apps.
✅ Practical Demonstration: We open our open-source `docker-symfony-api` repository to show real-world examples using PHPUnit.
✅ Using Code Coverage as a Map: How to use coverage reports to surgically target “blind spots” with Integration and Unit tests, rather than testing everything blindly.
Whether you are a CTO looking to improve team efficiency or a Senior Developer wanting to build more robust applications, this strategy will change how you approach automated testing in PHP.