Re: Agile Development, Anyone?

If you have "baked in" tests for all your routines then when you
change something and re-run the end to end test process you can see if
any results are incorrect - in fact the test code will tell you.
Problem is, legacy systems don't have testing built into the older
pieces of code.

We are not talking about the same thing I suspect.

I'm talking more along the lines of test driven development, not the
old school way of handing over to the testers who start testing
everything after the code is delivered, or having developers who test
their code in a haphazard way to check that "what they changed".has
worked.

This is somewhat theoretically speaking as the real world doesn't
always work this way...

On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 8:29 AM, <rob@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Unit testing is important but it doesn't eliminate system testing.  For
example, if I modify how I calculate dates in a date routine I can test
the snot out of that.  It has input and generates output.  But system
testing might show you that you're sending in the wrong input.  Or, your
new date routine now uses a file to figure out working days but system
testing may show that file gets locked at an inopportune time.

I think IBM has testing labs they can help you develop scripts that will
help do system testing.  With simulated 5250, web, etc loads.  I think
I've seen it with a bank of machines to generate the load.  Use the date
routine for example.
A system test might involve persistence testing from a web app.  Does all
the work you do to preload a table into memory, use a named activation
group, etc, all mean nothing for something non persistant?
Or one client banging away doing date conversions while another client
maintains the date table.  Does it lock the file?  Does the consumer
client see the new values immediately or do they need to "bounce" their
application?

Rob Berendt
--
Group Dekko
Dept 1600
Mail to:  2505 Dekko Drive
         Garrett, IN 46738
Ship to:  Dock 108
         6928N 400E
         Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com





From:   Evan Harris <auctionitis@xxxxxxxxx>
To:     Midrange Systems Technical Discussion <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:   08/24/2011 04:14 PM
Subject:        Re: Agile Development, Anyone?
Sent by:        midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx



If you've been building tests along with your code,  then when you
make changes proving that they work is simply a matter of re-running
the test unit including the new tests.

The problem is that if you have legacy code that wasn't built this way
then you have to somehow build tests into it or come up with some
other strategy to ensure it still works.

A few places I've worked would struggle with the idea of pair
programming - they'd see it as cutting the billing in half.

On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 5:11 AM, David Gibbs <david@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On 8/24/2011 9:43 AM, john e wrote:

So it's the realisation that you really can't develop (business!)
software using a strict process, with up-front planning and
requirements gathering. A much better way is to be more "iterative",
where you "grow" software, instead of building it (like a house or a
car).

I disagree ... I don't think you can develop software WITHOUT long term

planning, requirements gathering, etc.

Any software release has to have a goal and an over arching plan.

How you implement that plan can be iterative.

--
Regards
Evan Harris
http://www.auctionitis.co.nz
--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing
list
To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.


--
This is the Midrange Systems Technical Discussion (MIDRANGE-L) mailing list
To post a message email: MIDRANGE-L@xxxxxxxxxxxx
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or change list options,
visit: http://lists.midrange.com/mailman/listinfo/midrange-l
or email: MIDRANGE-L-request@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Before posting, please take a moment to review the archives
at http://archive.midrange.com/midrange-l.