From: Hal Fulton <hal9000@...>
Date: 2005-05-04T06:22:23+09:00
Subject: Re: Typo-checking instead of static typing

Eric Hodel wrote:
> On 03 May 2005, at 12:27, Ben Giddings wrote:
> 
>>
>> My open question is then: how do you find typos and brainos in seldom-run
>> code in a dynamic language like Ruby?
> 
> 
> Yes, unit tests and ruby -w.  I wrote the thing in the 'I Rock.' post 
> between midnight and 4am.  As you can imagine, writing code tired is 
> fraught with crazy typos, but the unit tests found them all.
> 
> When I was almost done, I spent 15 minutes on a 1 character typo (rrc in 
> one spot, rcc in another).  I didn't have a unit test for that case.

Let me put in a plug for code coverage tools in general.
Combined with good unit tests, these are truly invaluable.

There's a good one out there, but I forget what it's called --
<admission>I don't use it much, I've only played with it.</admission>


Hal