In the previous part of this article we focused on making specs we try to write as readable as possible. This however, comes at a cost of duplication and bloated individual tests. While this is a cost we intend to pay, there are ways to mitigate the impact of readability oriented specs on the overall size of our suite.
Form Object is a very useful pattern in rails ecosystem as it can address variety of issues and antipatterns. In this article we will attempt to sort out in which situations Form Objects can prove useful and what conventions allow us to make most out of them.
Clients and Wrappers (also referred to as “Facades”) are remarkably useful tools for working with external services, libraries or APIs. While both Clients and Wrappers are primarily used to facilitate usage of before-mentioned libraries or APIs, there are some significant differences in responsibilities each of these patterns have. In some cases a Wrapper can take over a Client’s responsibilities too
Pair programming is one of the best ways to learn programming, as collaborators can easily share their experiences and knowledge. This holds true when working with someone on similar or higher skill level, but can one really benefit from pairing with a novice developer?
Agile methodologies require time-and-materials pricing model. The client’s ability to be involved in the development process, prioritize backlog and adjust to the end-users’ needs with evolving requirements are, in most cases, the key to the market success of a service or a product.
In part 1 we have covered antipatterns related to stubbing and problem with implementation details that are a overcomplicated just for the sake of being super easy to tests. In second part we are going to focus more on tests themselves.
When preparing our test suite we might be tempted to make some shortcuts that will render our tests less readable, comprehensible or will significantly decrease the flexibility of further implementation. Below, I try to list some of the most commonly seen techniques we should avoid to keep our test suite healthy.
It is hard to underestimate a value and importance of automated tests. Creating confidence about if the code works the right way and thus enabling safe refactoring is just one thing. Another one is that test suite can act as a way to document behavior and also, especially when approached the BDD way, can drive the code design and architecture.
Query Objects (also referred to as queries) is another pattern that helps in decomposing your fat ActiveRecord models and keeping your code both slim and readable. While this article is written with Ruby On Rails in mind, it easily applies to other frameworks, especially MVC based and applying ActiveRecord pattern.
well-described task is at least half of the story behind its successful implementation. Some other success factors are hidden in what happens to the task further down the road and especially in how the necessary feedback is provided and processed in the task implementation.
