The Artima Developer Community
Sponsored Link

Agile Buzz Forum
Tweaking Stuff Until It Works

0 replies on 1 page.

Welcome Guest
  Sign In

Go back to the topic listing  Back to Topic List Click to reply to this topic  Reply to this Topic Click to search messages in this forum  Search Forum Click for a threaded view of the topic  Threaded View   
Previous Topic   Next Topic
Flat View: This topic has 0 replies on 1 page
Keith Ray

Posts: 658
Nickname: keithray
Registered: May, 2003

Keith Ray is multi-platform software developer and Team Leader
Tweaking Stuff Until It Works Posted: May 13, 2004 6:43 AM
Reply to this message Reply

This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Agile Buzz by Keith Ray.
Original Post: Tweaking Stuff Until It Works
Feed Title: MemoRanda
Feed URL: http://homepage.mac.com/1/homepage404ErrorPage.html
Feed Description: Keith Ray's notes to be remembered on agile software development, project management, oo programming, and other topics.
Latest Agile Buzz Posts
Latest Agile Buzz Posts by Keith Ray
Latest Posts From MemoRanda

Advertisement

A comment by Adrian Howard on Ralph Johnson's blog:

I've found TDD especially effective with new programmers. They no longer make that classic beginners mistake of typing a bunch of code then tweaking stuff at random until it works. TDD forces them to move in small increments and they get continual positive feedback - absolutely fantastic for learning.

Unfortunately I've seen "experienced" (non-XP) programmers who work the same way - typing a bunch of code then tweaking stuff at random until it works. Even worse, whole projects where the tweaking is done in the "testing phase". Those kinds of projects tend use a process I call "unconscious waterfall": there's a coding phase, and a testing-and-fixing phase, (and very rarely a design phase at the beginning). The testing-and-fixing phase tends to take the longest amount of time. See also CodeAndFix.

Those unconscious waterfall projects tend to give responsibility for "quality" to the testing staff, when the true responsibility for testers is to report on the state of the project. Writing quality code is ultimately the developer's responsibility, and there are many tools to help: TDD or unit testing, pair programming or code reviews, etc. QA's role is to provide some feedback, but it usually comes too late in unconscious waterfall projects.

Check out a paper by Joahanna Rothman for testers on non-agile projects: What do they pay you to do? and this one on testing in an agile project: Testers Shine on Agile Projects. What a difference!

Read: Tweaking Stuff Until It Works

Topic: TheServerSide Symposium Previous Topic   Next Topic Topic: Overheard re Camp Smalltalk

Sponsored Links



Google
  Web Artima.com   

Copyright © 1996-2019 Artima, Inc. All Rights Reserved. - Privacy Policy - Terms of Use