065: TDD In the Trenches with Scott Stroz

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Testing code is like taking out insurance: until you need it, it can be hard to understand why it's so important; it can be hard to understand what everyone is raving about. And so, you continue writing your code without tests. And, everything is fine, until one day it isn't. And in that moment, you finally see for yourself what value automated testing could have brought to the table.

On today's show, the crew talks to Scott Stroz about his experience with Test Driven Development (TDD); and, about how he has come to understand that testing makes possible what would have otherwise been impossible. With solid testing practices in place, Scott was able to refactor an exceedingly convoluted intake form that rendered 25 buttons, 6 unique workflows, and took the user through up to 28 steps. Crunch those numbers and try telling me that the chance of making a mistake isn't absolute. And yet, thanks to a rigorous test-first coding methodology, Scott was able to completely refactor this workflow - from the ground-up - and delivery it on-time and without error!

Notes & Links

• Sandi Metz: RailsConf 2014 - All the Little Things
• Sandi Metz: No Private Methods

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With audio editing and engineering by ZCross Media.

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