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> Experience building software can lower the testing requirements. This is a good point. The longer I've been at this, the less often, "this is likely to work"
by newsbinator 8y ago
> Experience building software can lower the testing requirements.
This is a good point. The longer I've been at this, the less often, "this is likely to work" is a thought that I let go unchallenged.
- retbull 8y ago"This is totally going to work" is only said when I am completely sure that it is going to fail catastrophically. If anything works I feel mild distrust with my code from that point forward.
- j45 8y agoKnowing the difference between thinking less about yourself vs less of yourself is important when taking your work seriously but not taking yourself too seriously. I have a healthy doubt of my own work that seems to end up making it work well first by keeping it as simple as possible. Keeping the mindset of an innocent beginner is critical as a developer with experience. Everything is easy in the beginning, not the long term - I like to see what code bases people have worked on for many years instead of being able to neatly start from scratch.
- retbull 8y agoYep. I try not to get caught up in worrying by adding lots of tests and making my code easy to change. When I find an old crusty piece of code I actually have the most fun because it takes me completely immersing myself in it to find all the crap floating around.
- pier25 8y agoI think it's only fair, as a developer, to live in a state of constant fear and paranoia. (joking)
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- j45 8y agoAbsolutely. It doesn't mean testing isn't required - it's absolutely the case when something is business critical, or average / inexperienced devs are painting unicorns and rainbows everywhere. I have a healthy skepticism of my own work, it keeps hubris in check. This combined with a preference to keep things simple (to come back to later and to let others join easily), I find encourages everyone to build a code base they want to work on long term.