Comments on Paul Batum: Working Effectively with Legacy Code

I haven't tried TypeMock. Honestly the code base I...

2009-04-22T21:19:00.000+10:00

I haven't tried TypeMock. Honestly the code base I'm working on isn't that bad - implementing the tests themselves is not hugely difficult, especially now that I have better ideas of how to approach it thanks to Michael's book. I totally agree with your point that firing up the UI to test some functionality can often be less efficient than simply writing the test.

I am happy to say that I managed to get past the first hurdle and I've been writing some tests, perhaps I'll write a follow up post this weekend to discuss it further.

Thanks for the comment!

1. Have you tried TypeMock? I'm not in an environm...

2009-04-22T14:29:00.000+10:00

1. Have you tried TypeMock? I'm not in an environment where I need it, but I have always seen it described as "mock anything" (including code that was not written with interfaces, DI, etc) - allowing you to get started with unit testing without a big refactor first.

2. Whether tests are a separate project or not is personal preference. While it may be your preference that they are, I reckon you should try to not let that be a big drag. Tests within an existing project are certainly not "bad".

3. Part of it is just attitude. I dont want to fire up my web browser and click on shit over and over, just to see if I changed some domain logic properly. I value my time - clicking about within a web interface is not a good way to spend it.

Thanks for the comments Rowan and Brian. I do inte...

2009-04-14T13:02:00.000+10:00

Thanks for the comments Rowan and Brian. I do intend to follow up on this in a week or two.

It's very difficult when I feel like I'm alone and...

2009-04-14T07:22:00.000+10:00

It's very difficult when I feel like I'm alone and I know that other people will break my tests and not care about it. I have to remind myself that it's not about other people, it's about doing my job to the best of my ability and taking that first step is always the most difficult.

Maybe you'll try it and catch a regression bug. Maybe someone else on the team will start asking what you're doing. Maybe it will snowball. Then again, maybe it won't, but you'll still be able to look yourself in the mirror and know you did everything you could to write quality code.

If you do try, please keep us posted. We all could use some inspiration at times. :)

Great book, it's full of practical advice that's u...

2009-04-14T00:51:00.000+10:00

Great book, it's full of practical advice that's useful on almost any app.

I've got that similar feeling of isolation with regards to unit testing..it IS a real challenge to do it when others don't see the value in it. Educating the masses comes slowly, but we have to try..