Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 01:31:39 +0100 From: Matthew Whelan <muttley@gotadsl.co.uk> To: "R. David Murray" <bitz@bitdance.com>, FreeBSD-Stable <stable@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: freebsd test matrix Message-ID: <20021022012432.3866.MUTTLEY@gotadsl.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <20021021191920.U21141-100000@twirl.bitdance.com> References: <20021021235512.C6F1.MUTTLEY@gotadsl.co.uk> <20021021191920.U21141-100000@twirl.bitdance.com>
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On Mon, 21 Oct 2002 19:22:23 -0400 (EDT) "R. David Murray" <bitz@bitdance.com> wrote: > On Tue, 22 Oct 2002, Matthew Whelan wrote: > > I couldn't agree more. Testing discovers bugs at a faster rate than > > debugging, at least until the test becomes 'too big'. As a result, it > > actually *SAVES* developer time. If this weren't the case, noone would > > do it outside of safety-critical systems. The clever bit is knowing when > > to stop (ie. how big is too big). Starting should be a no-brainer. > > The solution to the too big problem is to make many smaller tests, > and to have a test harness that allows you to run them selectively. Not quite what I meant... there always comes a point when testing where the rate at which you find bugs drops below the cost/benefit threshold of removing them. It's no good delivering a bug-free product 3 years after its usefulness has expired. It's also no good delivering that piece of perfection for triple the price anyone's willing to pay. > In XP, you write the tests *first*, and then write the code to make > the tests pass. This also saves developer time, in my experience (not > that I always do it that way, mind <grin>). This is a good way of disguising the fact that most people don't do enough detailed design - you effectively encode the design in your test suite instead. -- Matthew Whelan <muttley@gotadsl.co.uk> To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-stable" in the body of the message
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