Unit Testing Boundary Conditions and Edge Cases

Overview

Systematic patterns for testing boundary conditions, corner cases, and limit values in Java using JUnit 5. Covers numeric boundaries, string edge cases, collection states, floating-point precision, date/time limits, and off-by-one scenarios.

When to Use

• Numeric min/max limits, null/empty/whitespace inputs
• Overflow/underflow validation, collection boundaries
• Off-by-one errors, floating-point precision

Instructions

1. Identify boundaries: List numeric limits (MIN_VALUE, MAX_VALUE, zero), string states (null, empty, whitespace), collection sizes (0, 1, many)
2. Apply parameterized tests: Use @ParameterizedTest with @ValueSource or @CsvSource for multiple boundary values
3. Test both sides of boundaries: Cover values just below, at, and just above each boundary
4. Run tests after adding each boundary category to catch issues early
5. Verify floating-point precision: Use isCloseTo(expected, within(tolerance)) with AssertJ
6. Test collection states: Explicitly test empty (0), single (1), and many (>1) element scenarios
7. Handle overflow/underflow: Use Math.addExact() and Math.subtractExact() to detect arithmetic overflow
8. Test date/time edges: Verify leap years, month boundaries, timezone transitions
9. Iterate based on failures: When a boundary test fails, analyze the error to discover additional untested boundaries; add test cases for the newly discovered edge conditions

Examples

Requires: junit-jupiter, junit-jupiter-params, assertj-core.

Integer Boundary Testing

java
import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest;
import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.ValueSource;
import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.*;

class IntegerBoundaryTest {

  @ParameterizedTest
  @ValueSource(ints = {Integer.MIN_VALUE, Integer.MIN_VALUE + 1, 0, Integer.MAX_VALUE - 1, Integer.MAX_VALUE})
  void shouldHandleIntegerBoundaries(int value) {
    assertThat(value).isNotNull();
  }

  @Test
  void shouldDetectIntegerOverflow() {
    assertThatThrownBy(() -> Math.addExact(Integer.MAX_VALUE, 1))
      .isInstanceOf(ArithmeticException.class);
  }

  @Test
  void shouldDetectIntegerUnderflow() {
    assertThatThrownBy(() -> Math.subtractExact(Integer.MIN_VALUE, 1))
      .isInstanceOf(ArithmeticException.class);
  }

  @Test
  void shouldHandleZeroEdge() {
    int result = MathUtils.divide(0, 5);
    assertThat(result).isZero();

    assertThatThrownBy(() -> MathUtils.divide(5, 0))
      .isInstanceOf(ArithmeticException.class);
  }
}

String Boundary Testing

java
import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest;
import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.ValueSource;

class StringBoundaryTest {

  @ParameterizedTest
  @ValueSource(strings = {"", " ", "  ", "\t", "\n"})
  void shouldRejectEmptyAndWhitespace(String input) {
    boolean result = StringUtils.isNotBlank(input);
    assertThat(result).isFalse();
  }

  @Test
  void shouldHandleNullString() {
    String result = StringUtils.trim(null);
    assertThat(result).isNull();
  }

  @Test
  void shouldHandleSingleCharacter() {
    assertThat(StringUtils.capitalize("a")).isEqualTo("A");
    assertThat(StringUtils.trim("x")).isEqualTo("x");
  }

  @Test
  void shouldHandleVeryLongString() {
    String longString = "x".repeat(1000000);

    assertThat(longString.length()).isEqualTo(1000000);
    assertThat(StringUtils.isNotBlank(longString)).isTrue();
  }
}

Collection Boundary Testing

java
class CollectionBoundaryTest {

  @Test
  void shouldHandleEmptyList() {
    List<String> empty = List.of();

    assertThat(empty).isEmpty();
    assertThat(CollectionUtils.first(empty)).isNull();
    assertThat(CollectionUtils.count(empty)).isZero();
  }

  @Test
  void shouldHandleSingleElementList() {
    List<String> single = List.of("only");

    assertThat(single).hasSize(1);
    assertThat(CollectionUtils.first(single)).isEqualTo("only");
    assertThat(CollectionUtils.last(single)).isEqualTo("only");
  }

  @Test
  void shouldHandleLargeList() {
    List<Integer> large = new ArrayList<>();
    for (int i = 0; i < 100000; i++) {
      large.add(i);
    }

    assertThat(large).hasSize(100000);
    assertThat(CollectionUtils.first(large)).isZero();
    assertThat(CollectionUtils.last(large)).isEqualTo(99999);
  }

  @Test
  void shouldHandleNullInCollection() {
    List<String> withNull = new ArrayList<>(List.of("a", null, "c"));

    assertThat(withNull).contains(null);
    assertThat(CollectionUtils.filterNonNull(withNull)).hasSize(2);
  }
}

Floating-Point Boundary Testing

java
class FloatingPointBoundaryTest {

  @Test
  void shouldHandleFloatingPointPrecision() {
    double result = 0.1 + 0.2;
    assertThat(result).isCloseTo(0.3, within(0.0001));
  }

  @Test
  void shouldHandleSpecialFloatingPointValues() {
    assertThat(Double.POSITIVE_INFINITY).isGreaterThan(Double.MAX_VALUE);
    assertThat(Double.NEGATIVE_INFINITY).isLessThan(Double.MIN_VALUE);
    assertThat(Double.NaN).isNotEqualTo(Double.NaN);
  }

  @Test
  void shouldHandleZeroInDivision() {
    assertThat(1.0 / 0.0).isEqualTo(Double.POSITIVE_INFINITY);
    assertThat(-1.0 / 0.0).isEqualTo(Double.NEGATIVE_INFINITY);
    assertThat(0.0 / 0.0).isNaN();
  }
}

Date/Time Boundary Testing

java
class DateTimeBoundaryTest {

  @Test
  void shouldHandleMinAndMaxDates() {
    LocalDate min = LocalDate.MIN;
    LocalDate max = LocalDate.MAX;

    assertThat(min).isBefore(max);
    assertThat(DateUtils.isValid(min)).isTrue();
    assertThat(DateUtils.isValid(max)).isTrue();
  }

  @Test
  void shouldHandleLeapYearBoundary() {
    LocalDate leapYearEnd = LocalDate.of(2024, 2, 29);
    assertThat(leapYearEnd).isNotNull();
  }

  @Test
  void shouldRejectInvalidDateInNonLeapYear() {
    assertThatThrownBy(() -> LocalDate.of(2023, 2, 29))
      .isInstanceOf(DateTimeException.class);
  }
}

Array Index Boundary Testing

java
class ArrayBoundaryTest {

  @Test
  void shouldHandleFirstElementAccess() {
    int[] array = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
    assertThat(array[0]).isEqualTo(1);
  }

  @Test
  void shouldHandleLastElementAccess() {
    int[] array = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
    assertThat(array[array.length - 1]).isEqualTo(5);
  }

  @Test
  void shouldThrowOnNegativeIndex() {
    int[] array = {1, 2, 3};
    assertThatThrownBy(() -> array[-1])
      .isInstanceOf(ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException.class);
  }

  @Test
  void shouldThrowOnOutOfBoundsIndex() {
    int[] array = {1, 2, 3};
    assertThatThrownBy(() -> array[10])
      .isInstanceOf(ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException.class);
  }

  @Test
  void shouldHandleEmptyArray() {
    int[] empty = {};
    assertThat(empty.length).isZero();
    assertThatThrownBy(() -> empty[0])
      .isInstanceOf(ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException.class);
  }
}

Best Practices

• Test at boundaries explicitly: don't rely on random testing
• Test null and empty separately from valid inputs
• Use parameterized tests for multiple boundary cases
• Test both sides of boundaries (just below, at, just above)
• Verify error messages for invalid boundary inputs
• Document why specific boundaries matter for your domain
• Test overflow/underflow for all numeric operations

Constraints and Warnings

• Integer overflow: Use Math.addExact() to detect silent overflow
• Floating-point precision: Never use exact equality; always use tolerance-based assertions
• NaN behavior: NaN != NaN; use Float.isNaN() or Double.isNaN()
• Collection size limits: Be mindful of memory with large test collections
• String encoding: Test with Unicode characters for internationalization
• Date/time boundaries: Account for timezone transitions and daylight saving
• Array indexing: Always test index 0, length-1, and out-of-bounds

References

• Integer.MIN_VALUE/MAX_VALUE
• Double.MIN_VALUE/MAX_VALUE
• AssertJ Floating Point
• Boundary Value Analysis
• references/concurrent-testing.md - Thread safety patterns
• references/parameterized-patterns.md - Off-by-one and parameterized examples