--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/tests/test_columns.py	Sun Dec 10 17:57:03 2017 -0800
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+import csv
+import os
+import shutil
+import tempfile
+import unittest
+from collections import OrderedDict
+from orion.columns import read_columns
+from orion.transpose import transpose
+from StringIO import StringIO
+
+
+class TestColumns(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    # fake data
+    header = ["Animal", "Baby", "Group"]
+    data = [("Fox", "Kit", "Leash"),
+            ("Whale", "Calf", "Pod"),
+            ("Cuttlefish", "Hatchling", "Bob"),
+            ("Crow", "Hatchling", "Murder")]
+
+    def create_data(self, fp):
+        """write simple data to a test file and return its path"""
+
+        writer = csv.writer(fp)
+        writer.writerow(self.header)
+        writer.writerows(self.data)
+        fp.flush()
+
+    def fake_data_assertions(self, columns):
+        """test the columns created from our fake data"""
+
+        assert len(columns) == len(self.header)
+        assert set(columns.keys()) == set(self.header)
+        transposed = transpose(self.data)
+        assert set([len(row) for row in transposed]) == set([len(self.data)])
+        for key, column in zip(self.header, transposed):
+            assert len(columns[key]) == len(self.data)
+            assert columns[key] == column
+
+    def test_string(self):
+        """basic test of columns interface"""
+
+        # write fake data
+        fileobj = StringIO()
+        self.create_data(fileobj)
+        fileobj.seek(0)
+
+        # read into columns
+        columns = read_columns(fileobj)
+
+        # test what we have
+        self.fake_data_assertions(columns)
+
+    def test_file(self):
+        """write to a real file and use that"""
+
+        tmpdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        try:
+            # write the data
+            path = os.path.join(tmpdir, 'tmp.csv')
+            with open(path, 'w') as f:
+                self.create_data(f)
+            assert os.path.exists(path)
+
+            # read into columns
+            columns = read_columns(path)
+
+            # test what we have
+            self.fake_data_assertions(columns)
+        finally:
+            shutil.rmtree(tmpdir, ignore_errors=True)
+
+    def test_ordered_dict(self):
+        """ensure we can make use of an OrderedDict"""
+
+        # write fake data
+        fileobj = StringIO()
+        self.create_data(fileobj)
+        fileobj.seek(0)
+
+        # read into columns
+        columns = read_columns(fileobj, type=OrderedDict)
+
+        # test what we have
+        self.fake_data_assertions(columns)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+     unittest.main()