Best Practice: Initialize JUnit class fields in setUp() or at declaration?

Question

Should I initialize class fields at declaration like this?

public class SomeTest extends TestCase
{
    private final List list = new ArrayList();

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Answer 1

In your case (creating a list) there is no difference in practice. But generally it is better to use setUp(), because that will help Junit to report Exceptions correctly. If an exception occurs in constructor/initializer of a Test, that is a test failure. However, if an exception occurs during setup, it is natural to think of it as some issue in setting up the test, and junit reports it appropriately.