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Why I Hate Test Driven Development

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11–20 of 69 posts

Re: Why I Hate Test Driven Development

#11
If he's really looking from the satisfaction from debugging as more of a self-morale booster, why not contribute bug fixes to an open-source project? Find a major project, open its issue tracker, and start bug hunting!

I'm sure the maintainers of whatever project he picks will love having someone around to fix bugs, and he both gets the enjoyment he "misses", and gets to hone some debugging skills.

Re: Why I Hate Test Driven Development

#12
post #6

I can't be the only one who thinks this is meant to be sarcasm?

Yeah, it's very subtle. He's essentially saying that the TDD approach has made his code is flawless, and he is incapable of producing bugs.

Ahh.. I must lack some sense of humor.

Re: Why I Hate Test Driven Development

#13
I feel this myself.

However, I have always had the most fun debugging other people's systems. Because under those conditions I'm always billing by the hour, and when I find the problem it's never my mistake.

For my own code, though, I prefer TDD. And these days I still get enough debugging exercise when dealing with third-party systems. Facebook API, I'm looking at you here.

Re: Why I Hate Test Driven Development

#14
post #4

This is a good thing, isn’t it? So why do I hate TDD? Because debugging is fun. There, I said it. I love debugging. I think lots of clever people like debugging. I've been doing embedded development for quite some time, so you know, flipping bits like a boss, a shitload of open terminals, lots of cables everywhere all the stuff that makes you look like you know what you're doing but debugging is not fun, it never was…

>To love debugging is to not love to code.

Honestly, I want to sound rude, so I'm going to.

Who the hell are you to tell me what I love or don't love?

Re: Why I Hate Test Driven Development

#16
post #4

This is a good thing, isn’t it? So why do I hate TDD? Because debugging is fun. There, I said it. I love debugging. I think lots of clever people like debugging. I've been doing embedded development for quite some time, so you know, flipping bits like a boss, a shitload of open terminals, lots of cables everywhere all the stuff that makes you look like you know what you're doing but debugging is not fun, it never was…

I debug because I'm smart, and I enjoy it, and I frequently find bugs that I didn't know existed by seeing inside a frame as it's executing. Debugging is a crucial skill in many fields, particularly embedded work (which is the irony in your comment), and the insight from breakpoints and a couple afternoons of digging is unique among our tools. I hate sweeping generalizations of how programming should be done, regardl…

If you love debugging, I don't think you're a seasoned or valuable programmer.

Re: Why I Hate Test Driven Development

#17
post #4

This is a good thing, isn’t it? So why do I hate TDD? Because debugging is fun. There, I said it. I love debugging. I think lots of clever people like debugging. I've been doing embedded development for quite some time, so you know, flipping bits like a boss, a shitload of open terminals, lots of cables everywhere all the stuff that makes you look like you know what you're doing but debugging is not fun, it never was…

I debug because I'm smart, and I enjoy it, and I frequently find bugs that I didn't know existed by seeing inside a frame as it's executing. Debugging is a crucial skill in many fields, particularly embedded work (which is the irony in your comment), and the insight from breakpoints and a couple afternoons of digging is unique among our tools. I hate sweeping generalizations of how programming should be done, regardl…

I've learned that one must ensure one doesn't confuse love of the results given by a thing or action with the love of the thing or action which gets you those results. You're a seasoned debugger if you can successfully debug a complex system, but you're a wise developer if you can do the things which ensure you don't have to do so.

Re: Why I Hate Test Driven Development

#18
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it's very subtle. He's essentially saying that the TDD approach has made his code is flawless, and he is incapable of producing bugs.

Ahh.. I must lack some sense of humor.

Don't worry, you're not alone. I, for one, congenitally lack a sense of humor myself.

Re: Why I Hate Test Driven Development

#19
post #4

This is a good thing, isn’t it? So why do I hate TDD? Because debugging is fun. There, I said it. I love debugging. I think lots of clever people like debugging. I've been doing embedded development for quite some time, so you know, flipping bits like a boss, a shitload of open terminals, lots of cables everywhere all the stuff that makes you look like you know what you're doing but debugging is not fun, it never was…

At least I personally am much more driven by the fun of solving problems - usually low-level of the kind - and for me having a product that works isn't particularly very rewarding. It's much more rewarding to actually come up with a clever solution to a seemingly abnormal problem. Not to say that TDD would take this away though, but I've noticed that the emphasis of problem-solving moves one step upwards to the design/architectue scale, which definitely isn't my cup of tea. TDD is meh for the most part of the really memorable challenges.

Guess what? We're all different.

Re: Why I Hate Test Driven Development

#20
post #14
post #4

This is a good thing, isn’t it? So why do I hate TDD? Because debugging is fun. There, I said it. I love debugging. I think lots of clever people like debugging. I've been doing embedded development for quite some time, so you know, flipping bits like a boss, a shitload of open terminals, lots of cables everywhere all the stuff that makes you look like you know what you're doing but debugging is not fun, it never was…

>To love debugging is to not love to code. Honestly, I want to sound rude, so I'm going to. Who the hell are you to tell me what I love or don't love?

Who the hell are you to feel like you have the right to not be offended?

Nobody is telling you what to do, get over yourself.

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