[TIP] testing: why bother?

Benji York benji at benjiyork.com
Wed Mar 23 06:23:17 PDT 2011


On Wed, Mar 23, 2011 at 9:06 AM, Alfredo Deza <alfredodeza at gmail.com> wrote:
> I am about to give a presentation about testing in a couple of days
> and the audience is in its majority a  "we do not write tests" one :(
> If you had to name the single most important reason why you need to
> write tests (or keep up with them) what would that reason be?

Having good test hygiene is -- for me at least -- not something that
comes naturally. I don't really want to write tests, but when I don't
the results are so painful that my resolve is renewed.

> One thing to consider though is to think about the problem from their
> perspective: "Why do I need to write tests?"

It's hard to convince people to take vitamins (do things that will make
their lives better in the future) but it's not hard to get them to take
aspirin (do things to relieve a present pain).  Perhaps if you knew the
kinds of pain they are feeling and showed them that tests could help,
you could get through to them.

> I know that I get the best quality testing-related answers here :)

An appeal to vanity; you're already on the road to mass persuasiveness.
-- 
Benji York



More information about the testing-in-python mailing list