Apr 5 2023
The Benefits of Test-Driven Development

Test-driven development (TDD) is a software development process that relies on writing automated tests before new code is written. The tests are used to ensure that the code meets the requirements of the application.

TDD has a number of benefits, including:

  • Improved quality: TDD can help to improve the quality of software by ensuring that all code is covered by tests. This can help to identify defects early in the development process before they become difficult to fix.
  • Reduced costs: TDD can help to reduce costs by making it easier to refactor code. Refactoring is the process of changing the structure of code without changing its behaviour. With TDD, developers can refactor code with confidence, knowing that the tests will ensure that the changes do not break the application.
  • Increased productivity: TDD can help to increase productivity by making it easier to write code. When developers have a clear understanding of the requirements of an application, they can write code that meets those requirements more quickly.

How to Get Started with TDD

If you are interested in getting started with TDD, there are a few things you can do:

  1. Learn the basics of TDD: There are a number of resources available online and in books that can teach you the basics of TDD.
  2. Find a TDD tool: There are a number of TDD tools available, such as JUnit and NUnit. These tools can help you to write and run tests.
  3. Start with a small project: It is a good idea to start with a small project when you are first getting started with TDD. This will allow you to learn the basics of TDD without feeling overwhelmed.
  4. Get feedback from others: Once you have started using TDD, it is a good idea to get feedback from others. This could include your team members, your manager, or even other developers who are using TDD.

Conclusion

TDD is a powerful tool that can help you to improve quality, reduce costs, and increase the productivity of your software development projects. If you are interested in getting started with TDD, there are a number of resources available to help you.

Stephen Adams 0 Comments
Apr 1 2023
Contractor Chronicles 4

This week I’ve spent working on a very tricky bug, not one that required a complex rewrite to solve, but instead one that was hard to find the cause of.
It was on a Angular app that uses a third party system to generate forms for the application. The issue was that where this third party system had been updated it required a change to one of the forms in the application.

It was tricky to solve due to the fact that it needed a lot of comparing files and lines and lines of JSON to find the issue. Thankfully another developer helped me see the issue and I had been looking at it for hours.

It does go to show that it is always a good idea to get a ‘second pair of eyes’ to look at an issue. There’s no shame in asking for help in the end it helps get the problem solved and the work can continue.

The current contract I have should be ending at the end of April, so I’m going to start looking for the next one soon. Changing contracts is always a interesting time, mainly it’s stressful looking for the next role, but it is also a time to think about maybe trying something different.

If I look around on the job boards and LinkedIn it looks like React is the main choice for building web apps. So when this contract is up it might be time to look at getting into React development.
Having said that, Angular is going through a bit of a change. It now has stand alone components, like React and Vue. It has a new system called Signal coming in the next version, which is a new way of adding Reactivity to your application. These two changes alone mean that Angular apps can soon be written using the same approach as React and Vue, but still have all that Angular provides a complete framework with many of the tools you need for an application (like built in testing, routing, an http client and the CLI).

So is it worth looking at React when Angular could be having a resurgence? I’m not sure. I think at the end this contract I’ll spend a few days building a React app to see what it’s like to work with.

Stephen Adams 0 Comments