I write unit tests, I tend to write a lot. They get added to as time goes on, bugs are found etc. (The case where he was suggesting feature only) When you have a lot of code coverage, and you find a bug (logic errors) your tests should either change due to change in expectations or they should be added to.
On Mocks
Mocks are really terrible for unit tests. Those tests then become integration tests, because you're not testing the unit of code, you're testing a system under test. The unit test should test the code contained. (Not if you can connect to a faked out driver to the DB) Use interfaces and stubs to avoid that.
The attack
That was because the justification came from a lack of discipline. I don't have the time to teach someone who doesn't want to do the work to test their code, nor do they care to understand why testing on those levels is good. I've been through these arguments with others about it. From my experience they never seem to catch on that the amount of combinations of testing is going to get tiresome very quickly, they're going to miss things in the tests, the coverage reports are more inflated than the VW scandal (yes.. instrumentation says that line was hit.. but was the value tested), and they leave around landmines for anyone else that touches that code later. If you take any stake in what Venkat says: Code quality is about how you feel about others. In their case: people who only write feature tests regularly leave their mess laying around and want other people to deal with it.
DHH is an example of this, in his talk he was upset about how much he had to verify the small details. (That's good, that he's upset, it shows that he should start looking at creating new libraries that isolate him from that. It's not a good reason to say "oh we don't need a test to verify `def add2(a:Int, b:Int)= a+b`)
If that's the case then on this forum please ignore them rather than attacking them. We were all inexperienced once.
You (the programmer) write unit tests too, and even well code with well written unit tests will have bugs in it, if simply due to logic errors, or if due to mocks.
>Please tell me all of the products that your code is contained in. I don't want to die in a self-driving car because has superficial test coverage.
I just don't think this was the best way to go about your argument. Why attack the poster? Why not link your own papers about the benefits of unit tests?