--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Russell Gold
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> It seems to me that one source of resistance I am finding for unit
> testing is the term "test." We have an understaffed "Testing" group
> which writes these things called tests, which are very visible to
> management. When we suggest that developers should be writing unit
> tests, managers agree and enthusiastically assign tests to developers,
> who don't like the idea...
That's been a difficulty almost from day one, and some changed
terminology would be very welcome. Since Kent is in the process
of writing version 2 of the White Book, possibly he could
consider the idea.
However, this raises an interesting point. Exactly what
is your testing group doing? If they're doing acceptance
tests (in something like the XP sense of an automated
acceptance test) then I can see assigning them to the
developers: these things do need to be done before
(or at least during) coding, rather than after.
The XP cycle is to flesh out the story card by writing
acceptance tests while talking to the customer, and
then doing the coding. Of course, if the customer writes
them, that's even better, but then you should probably
have a dedicated tester to flush out corner cases and
similar things that real customers don't think about.
If they're doing programmer (that is, unit) tests, then
the developers should be doing them anyway.
>
> I have found several managers who have not understood the distinction.
> After all, tests are tests, right? So in my last pitch, I started to
> use the term "assertion" instead. That is, instead of saying - first,
> we write these tests and see that they fail... I said, first we make
> these assertions on the code, and see that they are not satisfied...
> My point seemed to be taken, and I am not certain whether it was the
> language or just a more intelligent manager.
>
> So should we really be speaking of Assertion-Driven Development rather
> than Test-Driven Development? It would certainly eliminate the need to
> warn that it is not about testing.
John Roth
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