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Should you follow TDD?
If you haven’t heard of TDD, it means Test Driven Development. What do I mean by that? Let’s talk about it today.
Test-driven development (aka TDD) is a three-step process. It’s often referred to as the “red, green, refactor cycle”
Let me explain the process:
Red : It involves writing a function to test a feature which you’re going to add in the project/app. It’ll fail onbviously and you get a red error message.
Green : Next up, we add the functionality/feature to the app in-order to pass the test and you get a green success message.
Refactor : Now we need to look at the code and refactor it to ensure it’s well-written, and easy to read/understand.
You repeat the same process over and over again until you have added all the required functionality.
Bonus: Using this cycle saves you if you break something while implementing other functionalities.
Utility Functions : If I’ve a function which has a certain set of inputs or ouputs, and of a certain complexity. I prefer setting up a test for it.
Well defined UI : If I’m trying to achieve certain UI goals in my app, I prefer setting up a test for it.
Fixing a bug : This also helps me in replicating the issue so that I can understand the problem better.
When you’re learning about new features and implementation (aka exploratory coding), I wouldn’t follow this cycle.
It is waste of your precious time if you’re testing the implementation details.
Go follow TDD if you believe you’ll be working on the project in the long run. Because I believe Time is an important resource, and you should utilize it to the fullest. Good luck!
Originally posted on: Vivek's Blog