[TIP] Web Application Testing Code of Ethics?

[C. Titus Brown]

On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 09:40:54AM +1100, Ben Finney wrote:
-> "C. Titus Brown" <ctb at msu.edu> writes:
-> 
-> > -> I still think there is a minimal level of testing, in any language, that
-> > -> should come with a web app, and that it could be summarized in an elegant
-> > -> way that wasn't too condescending.  Where is our generations Nancy Reagan,
-> > -> "just say no" to untested web apps?
-> > 
-> > "Test your shit, or I breaka your head".
-> 
-> Not measurable. Things that get measured tend to get done more reliably.

Actually, I disagree -- processes that get measured to get done in such
a way that the measurement improves, but that's all.

If you ask for good code coverage, you'll get good code coverage -- but
it may not do what you want.

If you ask for "requirements demonstrated", you'll see that they'll
produce their version of the requirements.

If you ask for "requirements demonstrated the way *you* mean them"
you'll find yourself writing spec style tests that cover some reasonable
subset of features (but still don't get you fully functional software).

There is, IMO, no substitute to having the developers actually devoted
to producing Good Stuff.  How to do that is the trick, and I don't think
there's a one-size-fits-all solution.  Certainly there's no silver
bullet.  And that's what agile (with a little 'a') is all about:
adapting to your circumstances to produce quality products.

Since I am a mean SOB, in Noah's friend's situation I would simply...
deploy the code that had been given to me.  At 4:55pm on a Friday.  And
then go home for the weekend and turn off my pager.

cheers,
--t

p.s. Get me to buy you a drink at PyCon and I'll tell you about my
experiences with introducing automated test in my sophomore/junior UG
class...
-- 
C. Titus Brown, ctb at msu.edu