Test-driven development can help to build software better and faster. It offers more than just simple validation of correctness; it can also drive the design of a program. In object-oriented programming, good use of encapsulation can make observing and testing some design features difficult. Further, the developer has to define classes and methods before compiling tests that use those classes and methods. Using the Java Management Extensions -- JMX -- to observe internal state provides an elegant alternative to reflection and compiler hacks. As a byproduct it provides a JMX interface for the completed system. This talk will cover how to benefit from unit testing with JMX, and the code and overhead required to use the technique.

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David Walend started learning Java with the alpha 3 release in 1994. His active open source projects include JDigraph, SomnifugiJMS, and SalutafugiJMS. David works on high-performance parallel and distributed computing at MathWorks.