# Why do we need yet another C++ test framework? Good question. For C++ there are quite a number of established frameworks, including (but not limited to), [Google Test](http://code.google.com/p/googletest/), [Boost.Test](http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_49_0/libs/test/doc/html/index.html), [CppUnit](http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/cppunit/index.php?title=Main_Page), [Cute](http://www.cute-test.com), [many, many more](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unit_testing_frameworks#C.2B.2B). So what does Catch bring to the party that differentiates it from these? Apart from a Catchy name, of course. ## Key Features * Quick and Really easy to get started. Just download catch.hpp, `#include` it and you're away. * No external dependencies. As long as you can compile C++11 and have a C++ standard library available. * Write test cases as, self-registering, functions (or methods, if you prefer). * Divide test cases into sections, each of which is run in isolation (eliminates the need for fixtures). * Use BDD-style Given-When-Then sections as well as traditional unit test cases. * Only one core assertion macro for comparisons. Standard C/C++ operators are used for the comparison - yet the full expression is decomposed and lhs and rhs values are logged. * Tests are named using free-form strings - no more couching names in legal identifiers. ## Other core features * Tests can be tagged for easily running ad-hoc groups of tests. * Failures can (optionally) break into the debugger on Windows and Mac. * Output is through modular reporter objects. Basic textual and XML reporters are included. Custom reporters can easily be added. * JUnit xml output is supported for integration with third-party tools, such as CI servers. * A default main() function is provided, but you can supply your own for complete control (e.g. integration into your own test runner GUI). * A command line parser is provided and can still be used if you choose to provided your own main() function. * Catch can test itself. * Alternative assertion macro(s) report failures but don't abort the test case * Floating point tolerance comparisons are built in using an expressive Approx() syntax. * Internal and friendly macros are isolated so name clashes can be managed * Matchers ## Who else is using Catch? See the list of [open source projects using Catch](opensource-users.md#top). See the [tutorial](tutorial.md#top) to get more of a taste of using Catch in practice --- [Home](Readme.md#top)