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List:       xmlbeans-dev
Subject:    Re: XMLBeans Apache Project
From:       Christopher Eliot <eliot () cs ! umass ! edu>
Date:       2003-08-24 14:39:05
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This is getting off-topic, but I'm not sure unit tests
actually slow down development.  It certainly seems to,
but I think the reality is that development is faster
because time spent debugging unit test failures is more
than made up by time saved testing and debugging runtime
failures.

Unit tests do for semantics what type checking does for syntax.

> cool :)
>
> i've just remembered one more factor: unit tests.
>
> these slow development but really do improve quality and reliability. 
> contributing unit tests are an excellent way for upstream developers 
> to ensure that continued development does not (accidentally, at least) 
> break their code.
>
> one guideline that you might consider is that all bug reports and 
> patches contain unit tests that demonstrate the problem. i've found 
> that having a unit test for a bug or an enhancement really does cut 
> the time needed to fix it.
>
> - robert

Prof. Christopher Eliot
Department of Computer Science
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
eliot@nsm.umass.edu


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