This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Java Buzz
by Ben Hosking.
Original Post: Agile development podcast and unit testing justification
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I listened to this podcast this weekend whilst trying to walk off a massive hangover. The company I work for doesn't use any programming methodologies like extreme programming or agile development etc. So I found it quite interesting to here about Agile development and what it means and what are the rules it specifies etc.
This podcast also has one of the best reasons to help persuade people to unit test. The speaker Kevlin Henney states that one of the reasons you should write unit tests is because you can estimate how long it will take to write a unit test where as you cannot estimate how long it would take to debug a program to try and find a bug you have missed.
I was fixing a bug this week and this comment really struck home to me because debugging is such a pain and usually you have to go into the code and you can't remember how it works and it takes you quite a while to work out how the code works to then be able to debug it. Where as if you write a unit test whilst creating the code you know how the code works and can test it easily. Unit testing doesn't mean there still won't be bugs but if there is a bug you can read the unit test to help understand what the code should be doing by looking at the unit test. You can also use the unit test to help debug the code.
So next time you meet someone who isn't unit testing ask them how long does it take to debug a code compared to how long does it take to write a unit test.
if you are interested in unit testing you should read this blog entry as well
here is the link to the agile podcast from the Javapolis website, there is also some other good podcasts on there which I would recommend checking out. This is the summary of the podcast from Javapolis
"Agile development is a phrase that it appears no buzzword-compliant software development project can be without. However, it is a proper understanding of the motivation and practices, rather than the buzzword conformance, that makes the actual difference in development. This talk begins by revisiting the motivation for agile development, and goes on to explore the wide-range perspectives that are encompassed by approaches that can claim to be agile, including both technical and non-technical aspects, the relationship between agility and architecture, the effect of skill and attitude, the role of organisation, and the support of practices and tools."
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