From: "David A. Black" Date: 2008-08-04T21:12:11+09:00 Subject: Re: unit testing advice Hi -- On Mon, 4 Aug 2008, James Britt wrote: > I've been wondering about resistance to "purist" TDD/BDD, and if there's some > aspect of "listen to your body" to observe. For example, when exercising or > dieting, there are assorted rules or regimes to follow, but if something is > hurting, or if you've constant cravings for some food or another, then maybe > that's an important sign to deviate from the original plan, and not simply a > lack of will power or a failure to "do it right." I definitely think so. We're all (in theory) discerning, careful practioners who are constantly monitoring the conditions under which we're working, dealing with exceptional situations, re-evaluating our technologies, and so forth. All you're saying, as I read it, is that we should not stop behaving like this, just because the technology in question is test-related. That makes perfect sense to me. I never signed on to switch off my critical faculties for test-writing purposes. > Rather than people applying ad hoc approaches to Test-second Development, > maybe there are some better practices to be shared for what seems to be a > common situation. It's common but I think it's also probably always going to involve some ad hoc thinking, since the circumstances under which one might be retro-fitting tests can vary so widely. I like the idea of thinking it through systematically, though (and I don't claim to have done so at this stage). David -- Rails training from David A. Black and Ruby Power and Light: * Advancing With Rails August 18-21 Edison, NJ * Co-taught by D.A. Black and Erik Kastner See http://www.rubypal.com for details and updates!