The reason I have become so controlled in code is that in my day job I maintain rather large custom enterprise applications. The ones which I was able to exert influence over and really provide proper testing from the beginning are easy to maintain. The ones where I was unable to do so can literally be a nightmare. Think typical enterprise application with multiple levels of abstraction in code, thousands of views and stored procs etc….

Its quite a change for me because I was a cowboy coder for a long time. I feel there is a place for both, but for me the middle ground delivers results and makes your life a lot easier a year later when it comes to maintenance. Less bubblegum fixes and the like make my life easier and lazier.

I agree with what Kyle said though. I figure for any complex method I will generally write enough tests that makes the tests 3x the size of the code in question.

Sure it takes time, but it also allows me to refactor, look for performance gains etc… Plus when I do find a bug later I add a test for that and can be certain I wont repeat the bug. The biggest advantage is that I end up with code thats easier to understand because its testable to begin with. I think this is one of the overlooked features of tests. Proper unit tests force you to write decent code by nature.

For anything trivial though I throw specific intgration tests over it. EG say I write a get X from database and return as JSON, I will actually call the API and verify that it works as expected. Easier to write, and verifies the database connection and everything else.

I loved this episode. I’m tempted to sign up for Forrst!

I’m on Forrst since October 2010, and I find it more addictive than Facebook and Twitter. But it’s a healthy addiction 🙂

@Jason, you can protect S3 files with a certain signature in the URL, and it will be valid for certain time.
Also, you had a great insight regarding working on something you like and have fun with.. this is something I try to do as a freelancer, only choose projects I feel excited about [no more lame websites!] and work with the frameworks I like and etc..

@Kyle, it feels like Forrst is your 10th startup or something. You did things really really good. I wish you would write more or give more interviews, it’s always interesting listening to you.

@Justin, you’ve been quiet..