Exploring Extreme Programming
Time is a well-known source of trouble for programmers. We looked earlier at one type of time troubles: overflow. Today, I’d like to look at another time trouble: transitions. Here are the problems we’ll see: Simultaneous Transitions Different units of Continue reading Time Troubles – Transitions
Exceptions are one of the most complicated constructs in many languages. Because of that, testing exceptions is one of the harder tests to do. Consider the following code. Assume block1 through block3 are straight-line code, each ending with a statement Continue reading Testing Exceptions: Harder Than It Looks
A one-page summary of Refactoring is available in PDF. Refactoring is…? Changing the design of existing code without changing its observable behavior (per Martin Fowler). These changes include renaming, reducing duplication, rearranging code, and more. Even large refactorings are built Continue reading Refactoring, a Whole-Team Guide
Here are the the articles and videos I made last year. Key topics: user stories, refactoring, TDD, functional languages, and design. I’ve grouped them into these areas: My favorites: Want More?Have you found these articles useful or want more? * Continue reading 2021 Articles in Review
Evolutionary design works by growing a system one capability at a time, keeping the design just sufficient for the system so far. As needs change, the system evolves to meet them. Evolutionary design has its technical challenges, but limiting beliefs Continue reading Limiting Beliefs About Evolutionary Design
A fixed-size counter (triggered by some sort of pulse) is a common way to represent time. When you use this approach, you generally have to answer three questions: Answering those questions lets you answer several other questions: (For all these, Continue reading Time Troubles – Binary Timer Overflow
State machines are useful, but how do we know they’re correct? We’ll look at several aspects of testing state machines: the machines themselves, and the interpreter and direct code implementations. The “State Machines” Series Levels of Testing When using state Continue reading State Machines, part 4: Testing
Today we’ll look at how to implement state machines as direct code. In part 1, we looked at what state machines are. In part 2, we looked at how you might implement them with an interpreter that process a data Continue reading State Machines, Part 3: Direct Code
Some teams try to start projects directly with user stories, but many important things need to happen earlier to make those effective. Chartering (aka Liftoff) provides a better way to structure the start of a project. Beyond that, there are Continue reading Chartering and more: What happens before user stories?
I’ve been involved with several projects over the last few months, and each has user stories associated with it. People often ask for examples of user stories, so I thought I’d share these. The Form By default, I use the Continue reading Examples of User Stories 2020