It's difficult to talk about good vs bad tests without some axis of measure and discipline in what those terms mean. Luckily we have quite a bit of empirical data to rely on for common cases.
Thank you for the helpful write-up! I like that you used metaphor. Great pun in there also after using cooking for the metaphor - “seasoned developer.” 😉
Thank you for the careful reading of the Test Desiderata. I agree the name is a mouthful.
One disagreement--I don't think the desiderata have any necessary connection to TDD. Yes, when you are TDDing you want the tests to be fast & predictive, but you also make tradeoffs between fast & predictive in a test suite run during a deployment build.
Thank you for pointing it out. I've been struggling to keep it cohesive, but it appears it's much better service to the engineer to keep them somewhat orthogonal.
We've been toying with the idea on the live TDD streams where we pair with audience members that writing developer tests with TDD implicitly focuses on 3-4 qualities, and the rest is still depending on business requirements and the understanding of design that happens in the engineer's head.
Thank you for the helpful write-up! I like that you used metaphor. Great pun in there also after using cooking for the metaphor - “seasoned developer.” 😉
Thank you for the careful reading of the Test Desiderata. I agree the name is a mouthful.
One disagreement--I don't think the desiderata have any necessary connection to TDD. Yes, when you are TDDing you want the tests to be fast & predictive, but you also make tradeoffs between fast & predictive in a test suite run during a deployment build.
Thank you for pointing it out. I've been struggling to keep it cohesive, but it appears it's much better service to the engineer to keep them somewhat orthogonal.
We've been toying with the idea on the live TDD streams where we pair with audience members that writing developer tests with TDD implicitly focuses on 3-4 qualities, and the rest is still depending on business requirements and the understanding of design that happens in the engineer's head.
That’d be a good essay—desiderata from a TDD perspective. Which ones matter most, what trade offs you’re willing to make.