Working Effectively With Legacy Tests (Agile Cambridge 2015)

The adoption of automated testing has locked down the behaviour of a lot of code, which can be a blessing and a curse.

These days we spend a lot of our time fighting tests which slow down our refactoring because they have failed to improve the design of the system. If they also run slowly and communicate little about intended behaviour, we might be tempted to wonder whether they are earning their place in our codebase.

In this workshop, we invite you to bring your unloved legacy tests to a group therapy session. We'll work together to help them change, curbing their destructive behaviours whilst improving their documentation of the system. In a non-judgemental, supportive environment we'll all help the tests to become productive members of society.

If you have a troubled test, bring along your laptop, hook it to the projector and we'll work as a mob to make it better. If not, there will be lots to learn as we work through other people's issues.

Transcript

1. Working Effectively with Legacy Tests A mob clinic Duncan McGregor Nat Pryce
2. You usually change the production code, then change the tests to match. You have legacy tests if…
3. Symptoms? Causes?
4. Aspects of Sustainable Tests
5. Auditions
6. Let’s fix some tests!