4 ms·

Unit tests tell you what that small thing you did ages ago was meant to do, and what it does in different circumstances. If you have the discipline to thoroughl

by Fargren 11y ago

Unit tests tell you what that small thing you did ages ago was meant to do, and what it does in different circumstances. If you have the discipline to thoroughly test your code(and the knowhow to not write brittle tests), it can really pay off.

hinkley 11y ago
Yeah people who rely on rote memorization tend not to be too keen on unit tests. Thankfully the Old Ways are dying, but there are still pretty huge pockets of holdouts. Sometimes it can be hard to tell from the interview process where your prospective employer is at on the continuum. Both [of the last two, big enterprise] places asked me about testing, and I wrongly assumed that meant they knew and cared. At the former they neither knew nor cared (in fact their dependency graph was so very broken that I couldn't write tests even though I wanted to, and I wasn't going to be able to unwind 250k lines of Big Ball of Mud in the time I had. Hated it). At the latter they care a bit, but are only beginning to understand what kind of trouble they've gotten themselves into.
Nadya 11y ago
>If you have the discipline to thoroughly test your code This isn't the issue. I, and I suspect many others, simply don't have time to thoroughly test code. It's the age-old issue of "Business doesn't rely on good code. It relies on delivering the product of that code." Up until the ship is both on fire and sinking - nobody cares about sailing a good ship. They'll settle for the shoddy lake boat and ride it out as long as it will last.
- hinkley 11y ago
  The trick is to get off the boat before its final voyage. Or if you're really smart, the penultimate voyage, so nobody thinks you were involved. I think that's one area where executives and salespeople have acumen that us poor plebs lack in spades. I'm not saying it's a good thing, I just think we get left holding the bag.
- Fargren 11y ago
  I believe even in the short term, tested code gets done faster than non tested code, simply because you tend to waste so little time in trivial mistakes when you test. But it takes time to get to that point, and you don't get to practice testing because it's a new thing and learning it takes time you simply don't have, it looks like it will slow you down.

by Fargren 11y ago

hinkley 11y ago

Yeah people who rely on rote memorization tend not to be too keen on unit tests. Thankfully the Old Ways are dying, but there are still pretty huge pockets of holdouts. Sometimes it can be hard to tell from the interview process where your prospective employer is at on the continuum. Both [of the last two, big enterprise] places asked me about testing, and I wrongly assumed that meant they knew and cared. At the former they neither knew nor cared (in fact their dependency graph was so very broken that I couldn't write tests even though I wanted to, and I wasn't going to be able to unwind 250k lines of Big Ball of Mud in the time I had. Hated it). At the latter they care a bit, but are only beginning to understand what kind of trouble they've gotten themselves into.

Nadya 11y ago

>If you have the discipline to thoroughly test your code This isn't the issue. I, and I suspect many others, simply don't have time to thoroughly test code. It's the age-old issue of "Business doesn't rely on good code. It relies on delivering the product of that code." Up until the ship is both on fire and sinking - nobody cares about sailing a good ship. They'll settle for the shoddy lake boat and ride it out as long as it will last.

hinkley 11y ago
The trick is to get off the boat before its final voyage. Or if you're really smart, the penultimate voyage, so nobody thinks you were involved. I think that's one area where executives and salespeople have acumen that us poor plebs lack in spades. I'm not saying it's a good thing, I just think we get left holding the bag.
Fargren 11y ago
I believe even in the short term, tested code gets done faster than non tested code, simply because you tend to waste so little time in trivial mistakes when you test. But it takes time to get to that point, and you don't get to practice testing because it's a new thing and learning it takes time you simply don't have, it looks like it will slow you down.