[plt-scheme] [maybe off-topic] The theory of testing

On Saturday 23 August 2008 20:45:30 Grant Rettke wrote:
> Hi folks,
>
> I recently had a good chat with my friend about unit testing. His
> company is thinking of making unit testing part of the "standard
> process". I gave him my take on unit testing, that:
>
> 1. Most developers don't know why they exist.
> 2. They are usually not maintained, or only maintained to gain code
> coverage. 3. Project failure then "proves" that unit tests are pointless
> 4. Unit tests go away

Unit tests must be part of the development process.  They are a safety net.

Yes, you can walk over the void without one, but the winds of change are 
sudden and strong.

Without unit tests, you end up with a very brittle product which is extremely 
expensive to change and maintain.  

Unit tests lower the cost and risk of change.


For a commercial perspective see:

  http://xpdx.org/files/ExtremeSuccess/

[Note that Memetrics sold to Accenture recently].

$0.02,
-KenD