To TDD or Not?

Here are some interesting discussions on TDD.

Pete's Write More Tests

Cedric's Pitfalls of TDD

Hacker news discussion - different than linked by Pete's writeup

Adron at Composite Code on Anti-TDD Arguments and Myths

rspec error messages

If you get this:

`require_relative': cannot load such file -- path (LoadError)


Do this:

Double-check that the files referenced by all your "require_relative" exist.
Also check that the spelling is correct and matches both ways.

If you get this:

Deprecation Warnings:

Using `should` from rspec-expectations' old `:should` syntax without explicitly enabling the syntax is deprecated. Use the new `:expect` syntax or explicitly enable `:should` with `config.expect_with(:rspec) { |c| c.syntax = :should }` instead.


Do this:

Replace "@book.should be_an_instance_of Book" with:

expect(@book).to be_an_instance_of Book

This is due to deprecation of the "should" syntax.

Learn rspec

I don't know TDD or BDD or rspec. All I know is you need to test your code.

According to the odin project:
Rspec is a domain specific language written in Ruby to help you test your Ruby code. Oh man, you can't use it if you ever move to Javascript or something else. Not universal I suppose.

But I haven't yet been able to get my head around "why you have to write tests before you code". How does that even work? I don't even know what I'm going to code yet or how the code will be written and ... I have to test it? Well, I'm going to spend time to understand this (view  all my reading on the matter here). Meantime, below are some resources I find useful and confusing.

Helpful resources:

• the odin project
• betterspecs.org
• Rspec book

Confusing resources:

• Tuts Ruby for Newbies on Youtube - Blog post here. I wish the explanation for each "describe" was in plain English. It's not. You need some background of rspec before watching this video.
• Treehouse's An Introduction to Rspec - Assumes you have some rspec background.