From: MikkelFJ <mikkelj-anti-spam@...1.dknet.dk>
Date: 2001-11-27T11:27:42+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:26591] Re: Ruby vs. Python: Decisions, Decisions


"Phlip" <phlip_cpp@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:9tu8vi$job@dispatch.concentric.net...

> > Mainly because
> > I'm prototyping as I go
>
> Right attitude, wrong expression. Instead of PrototypeFirst, what you
> >should< like is TestFirst:
>
>         http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?TestDrivenDesign

Am I the only one who things this is an overly hyped approach?
There were an example of a scorecard design developed using test first and
pair programming.
Several groups added their solution to the same concept until someone
eventually showed that the testcase would have cleared a program the was
extremely small and didn't do what you would have expected.

I'd rather spend the time designing the code properly rather than designing
the testcases properly.
I do test my code, but that is not how I develop. I develop my thinking hard
about what the application should do.
Then I come up with a solution. Then I think about how I could break that
solution be searching for counterexamples.
When I'm, fairly confident that the design is sound, I implement the
solution. Then I test that it works as expected by generating test cases to
catch stupid errors. I do not let the trivial testcases drive my design.
They will not find the major logical flaws anyway.

MikkelFJ