Test Driven Development (A cure for Refactor-phobia)#

There is an entire C# application running at CritiqueWheel.com that I have been dreading revisiting. It needs it, but it’s my first major app with no prior programming experience. So it’s a mess. The mere though of refactoring it scares me.

Thankfully I have gotten to a place where I happy enough with syntax use in Python to start exploring TDD, test driven development. And so far it has been a revelation and a complete rethinking of my fear or refactoring.

Served with a pinch of beginner’s salt.#

I’m working through a series of examples/projects that focus on TDD and I gotta say the red, green, refactor methodology is such a crutch when developing the code. The simple satisfaction of going through the process in an iterative fashion, knowing that I can either revert to a previous commit with a working test, or ‘know’ when my code is passing, is a great boost to my confidence.

It has to an extend brought back some of the fun.

TDD resources#

This is where I caught the TDD bug, Learn Python with Test-driven Development and TDD Full Course (Learn Test Driven Development with Python) is where I’m practicing to take it a little further.

Refactoring here I come#

Once I have a clear enough understanding of the process and feel I can do it comfortably, I’ll be heading back to C# to put it all in action. There is however a lingering doubt that maybe the CritiqueWheel should be a python project… #TODO