From: Bob Calco <rcalco@...>
Date: 2001-11-27T11:57:25+09:00
Subject: [ruby-talk:26594] 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?

No, I'm with you on that, MikkelFJ. And my specialty is automated software
testing. It's a good approach, don't get me wrong, especially when you
aren't on tight deadlines or working with idiot managers. But is it
over-hyped? Yeah, just like a great many ideas.

It is the nature of man to over-hype his preferences. Some ideas really are
great and stand on their own legs. These are often under-hyped. E.g., eat
right, exercise, save your money, pay your bills, don't code before you've
designed your software well, that kind of thing.

# I'd rather spend the time designing the code properly rather than
# designing
# the testcases properly.

Precisely. Actually, I'd rather do both, but on a tight deadline, better to
design right first.

# I do test my code, but that is not how I develop. I develop my
# thinking hard
# about what the application should do.

Sounds sensible. Although the not-unreasonable counter to that is that this
is precisely the benefit of test-first. By thinking of how you'd test your
software, you in the process come to understand the problem better, and
hence design it better. That's the argument anyhow. I'm a little skeptical
since that basical welds design and implementation (after all, what are you
going to test, if not the implementation?), but for small development
projects, it's doable.

Ah, if only all that thinking time was realistic!

And forgive me, Ruby looks great, but I very much doubt it solves the
problem, no matter how cool and easy to learn it is. I do not believe there
are silver bullets.

But I'll take an AK-47 over a .22 caliber language any day. ;)

Sincerely,

Bob Calco