This one has a bit of a story! Basically what I have observed is that having a bit of specially prepared dead code influences the compilation/optimization process of dart2js in such a way that it makes things work. I expect my code to work without the dead code but it doesn't. Without further ado, repro code here 
Repro steps:
- grab a stagehand angular starter project
- throw in the test and the build.yaml file from gist
- pub run build_runner test -r -- -p chrome
-r command line argument is important. DDC works fine.
There are a number of things that must be present in order for this to happen:
- Component should use AsyncPipeon a special Stream
- The implementation of that Stream must be "mockito-like" - overriding noSuchMethod
- dart2jscompiler must have- -O1or above optimization level
Until this point, component test fails, though I think it should pass. To fix it, there are 2 approaches:
- add a bit of dead code like in the gist
- use -O0optimization level fordart2js
My expectation:
Both reachable tests pass without dead code
What happens:
Without dead code, the component test fails, though it shouldn't
Env
- Dart SDK version: 2.10.4 (stable) (Wed Nov 11 13:35:58 2020 +0100) on "linux_x64"
- Angular 5.3, 6
Uhm, so I'm wondering, is it an angular_test bug or did I stumble onto something compiler related? (There is a 3rd option: I'm a  idiot and I'm missing something)