Even the most dedicated TDDer would not write a unit test for “Hello, world.” Even the most fervent FitNesse wonk would not write an acceptance test for a program that prints the first 10 squares. This implies that there are programs too simple for TDD. So where do we draw the line?

If you’re writing C/C++ code, it’s natural to write your unit tests in the same language (or use C++ for your C test code). All the well-known unit testing tools take this approach.

I think we can agree that neither language offers the best developer productivity among all the language choices out there. Most of us use either language because of perceived performance requirements, institutional and industry tradition, etc.

There’s growing interest, however, in mixing languages, tools, and paradigms to get the best tool for a particular job. <shameless-plug>I’m giving a talk March 7^th at SD West on this very topic, called Polyglot and Poly-Paradigm Programming </shameless-plug>.

So, why not use a more productive language for your C or C++ unit tests? You have more freedom in your development chores than what’s required for production. Why not use Ruby’s RSpec, a Behavior-Driven Development tool for acceptance and unit testing? Or, you could use Ruby’s version of JUnit, called Test::Unit. The hard part is integrating Ruby and C/C++. If you’ve been looking for an excuse to bring Ruby (or Tcl or Python or Java or…) into your C/C++ environment, starting with development tasks is usually the path of least resistance.

A lot of teams require their developers to document their designs in UML, using Visio or another tool, before they can start coding.

TDD has become quite popular, and many companies are attempting to adopt it. However, some folks worry that it takes a long time to write all those unit tests and are looking to test-generation tools as a way to decrease that burden.

Synopsis

Using synchronized turns a huge state space into a comparatively small one.

Normally, the light from a star radiates out in all directions. But what happens when a star collapses? There are several possibilities depending on the mass of the star. Our sun will turn into a red giant and then later turn into a white dwarf, giving out light from its accumulated heat for many years after living on Earth has become unbearable; mostly because of all the traffic.

If the mass of the star is around 10x our star, its destiny is just a bit different. It will begin to collapse. Along the way, it will probably have some temporary reprieves from its ultimate fate, to become a Neutron star, by consuming other heavier elements such as carbon and helium . However, the writing is on the wall. The center of star, already an extreme environment, becomes even more so; eventually, the pressure from the collapsing of material into the center of the star results in a massive explosion known as a nova or super nova – depending on the mass of the star. What is left is a neutron star. A neutron star is the heart of a pulsar, able to spin at amazing rates without pulling itself apart.

Another option is a black hole. A black hole is an often used metaphor for either the effort expended on support/fixing/updating a big ball of mud or what the development effort appears to be in most of the time. Either way, it is not considered a good thing if you’re anywhere in the vicinity.

I’m writing a Java Agent for the first time. Why? I’m interested in using this tool called ConTest from IBM. It was originally written during JDK 1.3 days and now it requires JDK 1.4. It instruments class files looking for code that uses concurrent constructs such as synchronized blocks and inserts code to monitor and play that code back in ways that will more likely expose concurrent problems.

My wife and I have evening plans. The driveway has a nice 10 inch layer of snow. To not keep our friends waiting we must leave the house by 6:30. We have a deadline. Working backwards, I need to be in the shower at 6:00. My requirements are to plow off the whole driveway and leave the house, showered and dressed by 6:30

I was at a client recently. They are a successful startup who have gone through a huge growth spurt. Their software grew rapidly, through a significant hack-and-slash program. Now they have a mess, and it is slowing them way down. Defects are high. Unintended consequences of change are high. Productivity is low.

No, not of Clean Code (look for it in Spring). This monday evening (12/3) I got a stomach ache.

I was ill when the first snow fell last weekend, and didn’t get out and scrape the drive and sidewalks. Sadly, neither did I bundle up my kids and send them out with shovels. As a result, the snow melted and refroze. When I left home on sunday morning, clearing the snow was frustrated by the presence of hard, packed ice under the snow.