Question

I’m in a project where we don’t do TDD, because our bosses and the cliente are very “old styled” people. Because I can’t do design through TDD but I feel fear to changes, I would like to write unit tests for my own safety. But, how those unit test would be? Do I have to write a test for each method specification for test that they do what it’s supposed they do? Do I have to test for each new functionality like TDD but without design? I have a mess in my mind.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You probably can’t hurt anything by doing unit tests – regardless of how well they’re done – except for one possible side-effect, and that is false confidence.

We tend not to do hardcore TDD, nevertheless the unit test coverage ranges from non-existent to moderate depending on project, and is becoming increasingly valuable as the idea settles in.

For general pointers, I’d say the following are key priorities for you right now:

• Test what you know to be important
• Test what you know to be fragile
• Write tests to expose any new bugs, then solve the bug by making modifications that pass the test
• Apply TDD where possible to any new features
• Acknowledge that you can’t TDD an existing project. By its nature, TDD only applies to new ground, whether that’s a new product, or a new feature for a legacy product. Don’t let this fact dishearten you.