Comments by "" (@ContinuousDelivery) on "Refactoring Legacy Code STEP BY STEP (Part 3)" video.

  1. Emily thanks for the great feedback. The point of my video series was to try and demonstrate the uncertainty that is inherent in this kind of exercise. So I didn't rehearse it or plan it. I am not sure that I was clear enough on the trailing comma thing. I should have been more explicit that at that moment I was experimenting to see how the code worked before I decided how to proceed. This would have been clearer, perhaps, if I hadn't take the short-cut of not really committing to save time. There is no way that I would have committed the change with the line of code commented out! Yes, I hummed and harr'ed about showing the creation of the Approval test - I think that I will do another separate video on that sometime. I basically took the snippet of sample XML that was in the comments in the code, wrote a test based on that as the input, then measured coverage and added more XML that I guessed would increase the coverage until it did. Whether or not the code counts as "Testable" based only on the Approval tests is debatable I guess. Strictly I guess you are correct, but I suppose that I fall into the trap of the overloaded nature of the word "Test" in the context of TDD. What I really mean by "Testability" is "Designable Through Executable Specifications". Approval tests don't do that, which is why I reacted against them a bit when I first heard of them from you. I know see their value, but it is not the same thing that you get from TDD. I suppose that by sports analogy, Approval Tests are defensive tests and TDD tests are Offensive tests? You are probably right that the video would have been in better context if I had a planned feature to add. Anyway, thanks again for the feedback.
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  2. Well this is meant to demonstrate how to do that. I'd disagree that this is "gambling" if you use refactoring techniques, then these are safe, so you can make small, incremental progress toward code that is less coupled and to where tests become possible.
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  3.  @rolnikz  Tools help, but aren't essential. The essential skill is to make change in very small steps. If you want some help on the steps, read Refactoring by Martin Fowler: https://amzn.to/30ntgaK or Refactoring Ruby Edition: https://amzn.to/2XGbuhi
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  4. Thanks
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  5. You can find a longer-form version on my training site here: https://courses.cd.training/courses/refactoring-tutorial
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  6. I won't set up a repo, but the code that I started with can be found here: https://shitcode.net/348
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  7. Hi Jahan, Thank you for watching the video and for taking the time to comment. There is a Playlist called "Tutorials" which includes the three videos in this series. It will be easier to follow the process, if you watch Part 1, Part 2 and then the final video on Testing. I hope you find them useful.
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