I love and appreciate this "essay"! I read the whole thing, and I think you and I have similar thoughts on TDD in general. I especially agree with this point:
I've learned that, during initial development, I change how things work a lot. In other words, things stay in the trial or prototype stage for a long time. For these kinds of projects, I'm avoiding writing tests more and more, until I feel like the requirements are more stable.
I am the same way. When I work on my personal projects, I tend to spend way more time reorganizing systems, just because I find it enjoyable. If I forced myself to write tests for every change, I would get way less enjoyment out of my projects, which would defeat the purpose! I program as a hobby because I find it fun, not because I feel the need to create a useful product. That's what programming professionally is for ;)
I do try to force myself to remember TDD principles whenever starting a new project, and I'll often start by writing a few tests for a component. But similar to you, as soon as the tests get in the way of my enjoyment/productivity, I stop forcing myself to write them. In a workplace setting, I would be more hesitant to abandon my TDD approach; but in a hobby setting, the only person I'm trying to please is myself.
Thanks for your response :) if you have a response to this one, I'll happily keep the conversation going!
Front end developer specialising in JavaScript and React. Experienced in all aspects of modern front end development. Passionate about making accessible, secure and performant software.
One situation where I don't use TDD is when I need to call some framework/library methods, but don't know how to use it yet. I would rather "play around" with the library a bit, until I know how to use it, without writing tests, and then start my own development based on it.
Front end developer specialising in JavaScript and React. Experienced in all aspects of modern front end development. Passionate about making accessible, secure and performant software.
I love and appreciate this "essay"! I read the whole thing, and I think you and I have similar thoughts on TDD in general. I especially agree with this point:
I am the same way. When I work on my personal projects, I tend to spend way more time reorganizing systems, just because I find it enjoyable. If I forced myself to write tests for every change, I would get way less enjoyment out of my projects, which would defeat the purpose! I program as a hobby because I find it fun, not because I feel the need to create a useful product. That's what programming professionally is for ;)
I do try to force myself to remember TDD principles whenever starting a new project, and I'll often start by writing a few tests for a component. But similar to you, as soon as the tests get in the way of my enjoyment/productivity, I stop forcing myself to write them. In a workplace setting, I would be more hesitant to abandon my TDD approach; but in a hobby setting, the only person I'm trying to please is myself.
Thanks for your response :) if you have a response to this one, I'll happily keep the conversation going!
Nice yeah, seems like we have similar thoughts indeed :).
One situation where I don't use TDD is when I need to call some framework/library methods, but don't know how to use it yet. I would rather "play around" with the library a bit, until I know how to use it, without writing tests, and then start my own development based on it.
Good example, thanks :)