NOTES.md

• build up a test suite, and a testing library to go with it

• command-line TODO app

  • steps:
    • start with bare-bones Todo class
    • add persistence
    • move list logic into class
    • flat tests
    • test blocks
    • clean state between each test
    • add "started" status (trinary vs binary state)
  • persisting
    • start without setting filename

• a big part of getting better at coding is overcoming the fear of breaking things

• it's not that the risk diminshes (the projects get more complex and the problems are new)

• mitigate risk

  • version control
  • abstraction
    • you don't drive a car by pressing a button for the spark plugs to fire
    • you don't use a computer by flipping switches (anymore)
  • staging
  • testing

• learn how something works by testing its limits

  • examples:
    • bicycle
    • baby crying
    • teenager
    • tree/rock climbing
  • what's scary about testing limits?
    • falling down
    • no reset button
  • in software, we don't have those problems
    • except after it's released
    • so break while you still have a reset button

• different kinds of testing

  • unit
    • multiple approaches
      • isolate that piece
      • isolate that piece and everything below it
  • integration
    • interaction-y things are hard to test, so move as much out of there as you can
  • more details

• testing forces you to write better code

  • write things to be testable
  • look at it from the outside in
    • the UX perspective
  • encourages you to break it into smaller pieces