24 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
24 lines
1.5 KiB
Markdown
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---
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title: Will what drove you here drive you away from here?
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date: 2023-02-15T20:37:35.854Z
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slug: 2023-02-15-tests-drive
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author: Thomas Wilson
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---
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Tests should drive the development of software (*caveat caveat backtrack backtrack*). That means if you find yourself somewhere in the codebase making some kind of change, it should be because the test took you there.
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If you're not careful, you're somewhere because it was nearby and it looked or smelled off.
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Unfortunately, this looks an awful lot like tidying up after yourself or moving things around to make an incoming change easier.
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Tests give you a ride out of where you are. They give you a point of reference to understand, really, how far away from the path you are. By doing something as simple as re-running the test you're working on, you might be able to hit the ejector seat, or let the bungie cord pull you back up.
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Sometimes you're driven somewhere because without a clear answer to that question \"when am I done?\". What drove you there won't necessarily drive you back, at least reliably or directly.
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It's very easy to let a *this didn't quite feel right* feeling take you down the [Yak Shaving](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yak_shaving) route.
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Unlike my favourite theory of Software Engineering as a RuneScape Quest, when you're Yak Shaving you might not even be doing something that makes the next thing easier.
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You might be improving things, but it's happening by random sprawl.
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Tests are a vehicle that drive you, and they're also a tool to get you out.
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