http://qs1969.pair.com?node_id=11150025


in reply to Re: What to test in a new module (TDD)
in thread What to test in a new module

The Monastery has also taught you to write the tests first because the act of writing your tests changes and improves your module's design

You are quite correct - as usual...

However, I have extraordinary cognitive problems with doing this. Trying to work out what a module is going to do and how it will do it before writing a line of code is quite a leap of conceptualism for me. I do not doubt that I could learn this cognitive skill if coding and module design were my job but they are very much a sideline. At 55 my brain's plasticity is fading a little I notice which doesn't help.

Over in this node it was suggested that I might like to create a module for Well Known Binary (WKB) from the work I had already done to read one file. I started writing the tests for that module but it has ground to a halt because of the issue above.

Back to this "module"...
It didn't start out as a module. It started as a bit of throw away code to build an array. It then turned into a sub in a small script for my own very limited use. Then, and only then, did I think it might be helpful to other people as it is a relatively general building block.

I don't think tests are necessary for bits of throw away code. Nor for simple scripts that are only intended to be used by me.
Do you think otherwise?