Is TDD dead?
Why Hacker News recommends it
Recommended in TDD and unit-testing threads as a balanced debate among three prominent developers that avoids dogma.
What it is
A Thoughtworks conversation among Martin Fowler, Kent Beck and David Heinemeier Hansson on whether TDD is dead. They discuss the tradeoffs of test-driven development, mocking and where TDD helps or hurts design.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2014 to 2022.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec ollysb · 2015-02 · on “Ask HN: How do I start with test driven development?”
I can't recommend the discussion between Kent Beck, David Hansson and Martin Fowler enough. They look at how and where it should be used and in particular discuss their approach to mocking which I feel is an often misunderstood tool. Part 1 - [this video] Part 2 - [LINK] Part 3 - [LINK] Part 4/5 - [LINK]
Cites ChrisGaudreau · 2014-05 · on “The DHH Problem”
> Because DHH is just one person. And he only has DHH's experiences. Yep. Uncle Bob is one person, too. tl;dr Think for yourself and don't listen to somebody just because they hurt your feelings. > To pick a topical example: Is TDD hard in Rails apps because TDD is dead or because Rails makes TDD hard? This is a misrepresentation of what DHH has said [1], which is that strict adherence to TDD can make your designs worse: > Over the years, the test-first rhetoric got louder and angrier, though. More mean-spirited. And at times I got sucked into that fundamentalist vortex, feeling bad about not following the true gospel. Then I'd try test-first for a few weeks, only to drop it again when it st
Cites ailideex · 2018-12 · on “Ask HN: What prominent and high profile companies use TDD?”
I'm not sure I buy this. Quote from Martin Fowler: [this video] > I share with with David and Kent, there are problems where TDD doesn't work terribly well, and sadly most of the programming I do these days is not conducive to TDD and I miss it because actually I really like the TDD flow that really works for me just as it works the Kent.
Cites dhzhzjsbevs · 2022-04 · on “Unit Testing is Overrated (2020)”
Hot take. Unit testing is not overrated, if you feel this way you likely just suck at optimising your suite for high RoI tests or chase some stupid metric like code coverage getting mad when you find out you wasted a bunch of time writing worthless tests. [this video]
Cites MarquesMa · 2022-06 · on “Ask HN: In these uncertain times, how do you handle anxiousness”
It says that "Nintendo" or "任天堂" the brand name refers to an old Chinese saying "謀事在人，成事在天" which means "Man proposes, God disposes", or "do your best and leave it to the fate". The idea is not far from the stoic ones - try your best and stop worrying. It's like an idea from this classic debate on TDD [0]: Unit tests make you confident. You write it, you forget it. It makes you sleep at night. In my first few years of my career, I was constantly and unconsciously thinking about the code, the business requirement, the team, even outside the working hours. That stressed and drained me a lot. In the end I realized I shouldn't have done that. If I am to worry about those things, I just book myse