Re:Kent Beck: “I get paid for code that works, not for tests...
by alkonaut on Thursday December 08, 2016 @09:56AM
(#13130624)
Also: how long do you maintain it.
Even if I'm alone in my team, When I refactor code after say 10 or 15 years I could just as well have been another person. I don't remember. I don't have the same skill set.
And the thing is: when you first write the code you usually don't know how many years you will maintain it. That might be a reason to postpone some test writing a while initially (if the code is scrapped in 2 months what whas the point of effort for maintainability?)
However there are upfront benefits with writing at least some tests for everything, in that it (usually) helps design a less coupled system.
Even if I'm alone in my team, When I refactor code after say 10 or 15 years I could just as well have been another person. I don't remember. I don't have the same skill set.
And the thing is: when you first write the code you usually don't know how many years you will maintain it. That might be a reason to postpone some test writing a while initially (if the code is scrapped in 2 months what whas the point of effort for maintainability?)
However there are upfront benefits with writing at least some tests for everything, in that it (usually) helps design a less coupled system.