DEVELOPER EXPLORATORY TESTING

How is Law of Demeter related to reference counting? It manages how parts of a software system is connected. Few languages today manage memory manually. But we can still use the same ways of thinking, to support a loosely coupled architecture.

Unit tests define the collaborators and the purpose of a piece of code. When reading code with unit tests, we can read the tests first, and focus on how the unit interacts with the system. Then reading the computational code is only about the implementation of that unit. Separating concerns like that lightens the cognitive load.

Some testing frameworks are so powerful that they take away all the design pressure. They have a place in a codebase that stinks so much you can't work in it without some perfume. In all other cases they disturb your nose for well designed code.

Use questions when delivering constructive criticism on something complex. Questions leave room for the possibility that you are wrong.

When you want your test to make sure that the code does not even try to call a collaborator with side effects, use a dynamite double, that explodes when touched.

In mathematics the definition of a function contains the set of valid input values, the domain. Test Driven Development can help us adapt that mindset and implement the boundaries of our domain in code.

IT-stress has gotten into the top list of problems in the workplace. This is a text about changing that.

Is "clean code" important for successful software development? It depends on the life expectancy of the software, if it needs to follow changes in the business and how well the user reacts to defects.

When talking about software quality we should separate internal and external quality. Internal quality makes it easy to write software that do what we expect. External quality is software that does what the end users expect.

Useworthiness is the combination of usability and utility. How well it works is weighted with how valuable the function is. Both impact how the user interacts with software.

It is not always possible to write pure functions. Still, the properties of pure functions can help us write testable code.

Don't let frameworks interlace with the domain code. Keep them separate and working with the codebase won't require super powers.

Unit tests are the playground where code learns to behave. If the code is both easy to test and easy to use, it has shown to be reusable.

Design the code so that as little as possible needs to change when the world changes.

Anti-work in an organization will spread to its customers. No defect is too small to lower the quality of life for people a bit, and combined it is an unnecessary burden for the often already disadvantaged.

What does too many stakeholders do to a piece of code?

Learning to refactor instead of rewriting preserves the domain knowledge build into the old codebase while it can keep making money. The skill of continuous improvement is important for developers, and might be neglected in a "rewrite" culture.

Being good at things nobody should ever have to do is a tricky thing. This is a text about wishing for a better world, also when you don't yet have the skills needed to perform well in that world.

A cognitive tool in shape of a list of things that often go wrong when writing code. Nice to have when you get stuck.

Test Driven Development (and unit testing in general) is easier when some things are avoided or encapsulated. Here are four problems faced when unit testing and their solutoins.

A list of aspects to consider when getting to know a new software project and assessing how easy it will be to work with.

Our mind also has ergonomics. Software interior design is about designing our code, and our systems around it, to make our work easier.

Three benefits from doing test first, one test at the time are: specific feedback, design guidance and finding the right amount of tests.

How Theory of Constraints leads us to move the verification step in front of the production step, and keep shrinking the batch size.

In test driven development the tests, even before they even test something, guides our steps. The trick is to take really small steps, and let code and tests evolve together.

Use a linter for your code! And fix all(!) errors and warnings. Your brain will thank you.

User research can save as much effort in the IT-industry as QA before a bottleneck does in manufacturing.