Unit is the smallest testable part of the software system. Unit testing is done to verify that the lowest independent entities in any software are working fine. The smallest testable part is isolated from the remainder code and tested to determine whether it works correctly.
Why is Unit Testing important
Suppose you have two units and you do not want to test the units individually but as an integrated system to save your time.
Once the system is integrated and you found error in an integrated system it becomes difficult to differentiate that the error occurred in which unit so unit testing is mandatory before integrating the units.
When developer is coding the software it may happen that the dependent modules are not completed for testing,in such cases developers use stubs and drivers to simulate the called(stub) and caller(driver) units. Unit testing requires stubs and drivers, stubs simulates the called unit and driver simulates the calling unit.
Lets explain STUBS and DRIVERS in detail.
STUBS:
Assume you have 3 modules, Module A, Module B and module C. Module A is ready and we need to test it, but module A calls functions from Module B and C which are not ready, so developer will write a dummy module which simulates B and C and returns values to module A. This dummy module code is known as stub.
DRIVERS:
Now suppose you have modules B and C ready but module A which calls functions from module B and C is not ready so developer will write a dummy piece of code for module A which will return values to module B and C. This dummy piece of code is known as driver.