What is mock testing, and how would you mock services for testing in microservices?

Short answer: Mock testing involves simulating the behavior of complex or unavailable external services by creating mock objects or stubs. This is especially useful in unit testing and integration testing to isolate specific components. Approach:

Real-world example (ShopNest)

ShopNest splits Catalog, Cart, Order, and Payment into services so teams can deploy catalog changes without redeploying payments.

Say this in the interview

1. Define — one clear sentence (the short answer above).
2. Example — relate it to a project like ShopNest or your real work.
3. Trade-off — when you would not use it.