SuperTest vs axios: What are the differences?

Introduction

The purpose of this task is to provide a comparison between SuperTest and axios and highlight the key differences between the two libraries.

1. Request Abstraction: SuperTest is specifically designed to test HTTP servers, making it an ideal choice for testing APIs and server-side code. It provides a high-level abstraction for making HTTP requests and includes features for assertions and response handling to simplify testing. On the other hand, axios is a lightweight JavaScript library that can be used in both client-side and server-side applications. It focuses on providing a simple and intuitive API for making HTTP requests without any specific testing features.

2. Testing Capability: SuperTest is primarily used for testing purposes with its built-in support for assertions and response handling. It allows developers to easily verify different aspects of HTTP responses, such as status codes, headers, and response bodies. In contrast, axios does not provide built-in testing capabilities and is more suited for general-purpose HTTP requests in real applications. It does not offer specific features to validate HTTP response details as SuperTest does.

3. Integration with Testing Frameworks: SuperTest is commonly used alongside testing frameworks like Mocha or Jest to write and execute test cases. It seamlessly integrates with these frameworks, providing additional functionalities like request chaining and test-driven assertions. On the other hand, axios is a standalone library that can be used with any framework or without any framework at all. It does not have any direct integration with testing frameworks and is more flexible in terms of usage.

4. Request Configuration and Customization: SuperTest allows developers to easily customize and configure requests by providing various methods and options. It supports different HTTP methods, URL parameters, query parameters, request headers, and request bodies. It also supports sending files and cookies in requests. In contrast, axios provides a more simplified request configuration. It supports HTTP methods, URL parameters, query parameters, and request headers. It does not have direct support for sending files or cookies in requests.

5. Promises and Async/Await: SuperTest uses Promises for handling asynchronous operations and allows developers to use async/await syntax for more readable test code. It provides a fluent API for chaining multiple requests in a sequence. Conversely, axios also uses Promises but does not provide a native support for async/await syntax. Developers can handle asynchronous operations in axios using traditional .then() and .catch() methods.

6. Browser Support: SuperTest is primarily geared towards server-side testing and does not have support for browser environments. It is meant to be used in Node.js applications. On the other hand, axios is designed to work in both browser and Node.js environments. It can be used to make HTTP requests from client-side JavaScript code as well.

In summary, SuperTest is a specialized library for testing HTTP servers, whereas axios is a lightweight HTTP client library suitable for general-purpose HTTP requests. SuperTest provides built-in testing features and integrates well with testing frameworks, while axios offers simplicity and flexibility in request handling without any specific testing capabilities.