[LRUG] TDD (was: Ruby Contracting)

[Chris Parsons]

On 20 Feb 2009, at 12:01, Eleanor McHugh wrote:

> On 19 Feb 2009, at 13:48, Vahagn Hayrapetyan wrote:
>> Now, wouldn't it be nice to have a documentation for this code in  
>> the form of a robust, explicit, "spelled-out" test suite? (Or  
>> worthy of investment?)
>
> Code isn't for computers, it's for people, and if it's not readable  
> by people it isn't fit for purpose. Therefore I'd rather a codebase  
> written with an engaging and legible style that I can sit down and  
> read as hard copy than a mountain of specs and tests. YMMV.

Bit idealistic, this. Depends on the ability of the coder. Not  
everyone is able to read a complex piece of code straight off the bat.  
Also, there are plenty of languages where legibility is much harder.  
Code can also be necessarily obfuscated for efficiency reasons.

No matter how good a coder is, being able to read a clearly written  
spec is a great thing. I think IMO it basically comes down to the fact  
that its worse to write specs/tests badly than not to have them at all.

This is how I see it:

Bad code = Bad
Good code = Good
Bad code + bad specs = Worse than bad
Good code + bad specs = Bad, because of inherent overconfidence
Bad code + good specs = Good (because the code will be fixed :)
Good code + good specs = Best case

Thanks
Chris

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Chris Parsons
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chris at edendevelopment.co.uk
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