Cucumber vs Lettuce: What are the differences?

Introduction

Cucumber and Lettuce are both testing frameworks that facilitate Behavior Driven Development (BDD) by allowing the creation of acceptance tests in a human-readable format. However, there are several key differences between them that make each framework unique.

1. Gherkin Syntax: Cucumber uses the Gherkin syntax, which is a business-readable domain-specific language. It allows the description of test scenarios using Given-When-Then keywords. Lettuce, on the other hand, also uses Gherkin but has more flexibility in defining its own custom steps in addition to the Given-When-Then structure.

2. Language Implementation: Cucumber originally started as a Ruby-based framework and has since been implemented in other languages as well, including Java, JavaScript, and .NET. Lettuce, on the other hand, is primarily developed using Python and supports only Python-based test scripts.

3. Integration with Python Ecosystem: Lettuce is tightly integrated with the Python ecosystem, enabling seamless usage with other Python libraries and tools. This integration allows developers to leverage the extensive capabilities of the Python ecosystem for testing and test automation. Cucumber, on the other hand, has support for the languages it is implemented in, but may not have the same level of integration with specific language ecosystems.

4. Parallel Execution: Cucumber doesn't inherently support parallel execution of test scenarios. Although possible, it requires additional setup and tools to achieve parallel execution. In contrast, Lettuce provides built-in support for parallel testing, allowing multiple scenarios to be executed concurrently, which can significantly reduce overall test execution time.

5. Customization and Extensibility: Lettuce offers more customization and extensibility options compared to Cucumber. It allows the creation of custom testing layers, such as custom context objects or additional step definitions, providing more flexibility to tailor the framework to specific project requirements. Cucumber, while extensible, may have more limitations in terms of customization compared to Lettuce.

6. Community and Support: Cucumber has been around for a longer time and has a larger community and more extensive documentation and resources available. Lettuce, although popular within the Python community, may have a relatively smaller community and fewer resources in comparison.

In summary, the key differences between Cucumber and Lettuce are the syntax structure, language implementation, integration with language ecosystem, support for parallel execution, customization and extensibility options, and the size of their respective communities.