Fri, 21 Feb 2003
Generative and elaborative tests
In the
test-driven development group, John Arrizza writes:
IMO, there are two kinds of tests in TDD, both of which are heavily related
to each other. The first is a speculative test, it will cause you to write
code for a very small part of new functionality. The new code satisfies some
small part of your spec, requirements, task, Story, etc.
The second kind of test will confirm that the code you've just added works
as you expect in and around the existing functionality. It examines slightly
different but related parts of the solution space that are important to you.
These do not have to be comprehensive, but they do have to be relevant! You
write these until your anxiety is satisfied, or as Phlip says "write tests
until you're bored."
The first kind moves the design forward in an area, the second fleshes out
the design in that area.
Bill Wake chimed in:
I have the same feeling - I call the first set "generative" as they
drive through to generate the design, and the second
set "elaborative" as they play out the theme and variations.
I think naming these two (of N) types of tests is a useful thing
to do, so I intend to talk about generative and elaborative tests
from now on.
## Posted at 13:37 in category /testing
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Some tools for Windows switchers
I switched from Windows to Mac OS X last summer. It
seems I know a lot of people who have switched too (PragDave), will
switch as soon as their 17 inch TiBook arrives (Cem Kaner),
or won't be able to resist forever
(Mike
Clark).
Back in my Unix days, I used to be quite the tinkerer. I fiddled
with my environment to make it just so. When I went to Windows, I
stopped doing that. I just submitted. On OS X, I'm back to spending
time making myself more efficient.
Here are some thing I've done that other switchers might like.
Let me know what you've done.
I have a 15 inch iMac, but I've migrated to using my 15 inch TiBook
as my work machine. More pixels. I normally run it with a Sony
SDM-X52 15 inch flat panel display as a second monitor.
Having a second screen is just enormously more efficient for
so many tasks. The Sony isn't the greatest display, but it's the
best I could find out here in the boondocks for around $400. (I
didn't want to buy sight unseen.)
I actually have my iMac set up to the left of my TiBook, so I'm
facing a semicircle of screens. It looks cool, but the iMac is just
running iCal, my current todo list (in TextEdit), a program
called Consistency (about which, more later), and iTunes. I bought a Maxtor firewire drive as a backup
device. Daily, I make a bootable disk image to it using
Synchronize Pro X. I find it reassuring to know that, if my
hard disk fails, I can run from the firewire disk. The Maxtor drive
is a touch noisy. Synchronize Pro X is a bit pricy ($100), but I
also use it to synchronize directories between the two macs. I like switching programs from the keyboard, and I don't like
the way the Dock does it. I always overshoot. So I bought
Keyboard Maestro for
$20. Option-Tab cycles you through a list of only the running
programs. There are other commands to get you quickly to the
finder, to quickly quit all programs, to back up if you overshoot, etc. It also lets you have N
clipboards instead of just one. You can also program the keyboard
to do arbitrary things. For example, when I'm in Emacs, F6 means
"switch to project builder, build the debug version of the current
program, and run it". That way, I can write my Ruby code in Emacs
but still use the Project Builder for the things it's good
for. I use an Aquafied Emacs instead of the one that ships with the
Mac.
## Posted at 08:08 in category /mac
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