Oi, oi, oi ...

Been awhile. A few months back I started working on some material for some logging-based posts, but got side tracked by work and other stuff too. Still on the radar, but also ramping up on some Silverlight - especially the design aspects!

While searching for Silverlight related tutorials and sites, found this gem .toolbox. It's a clever site with loads of content that I am slowly working through. As a dev, the Expression Blend tutorials are a good way to get familiar with the product. I am especially interested in using Blend to prototype faster so that I may elicit users feedback sooner. I am also enjoying myself with the design sessions, and recommend these to any developer interested in User Interface design work.



.toolbox user avatar for johnny_g



Testing, anatomy of a test

Hm, just firing off a quick post here - the basic structure of a test

1. Set expectations,
2. Perform test and record actuals, and
3. Evaluate actuals against expectations

Seems kind of trite and silly to state the obvious, but whenever I find myself in a bind it helps to take things back to basics.

Unit testing, better design

Ahem, so before we dig into some code, I would like to take a minute and say something.

I can be a very stubborn and obstinate person, and I am also incredibly lazy! As such, even having attended many lectures and throwing thousands and thousands of dollars at some of the finest academia, I ignored many of the simple, basic, fundamental principles of Computing they tried to instill in me.

Principles like

1. Interface programming,
2. Encapsulation,
3. Separation of Concern [SoC],

I am positive there are more, but these three form a triad of sorts, themes in my most recent adventures.

This sad state of ignorance was further compounded by youth, inexperience, and entering the "real world", where constraints prohibited my ability to exercise these principles.

Many, many, many years later, after much trial, error, and tribulation I have entered something of a personal [and professional!] renaissance. Rediscovering some of these principles, I am continually finding new ways to simplify, extend, and robustify [alright, that is not really a word, but whatever] my work.

If that were not enough, then may I also add: Applying these simple yet powerful principles facilitates unit testing! Yes! That is right! Not only will you produce better work, but you will be able to quantitatively and qualitatively prove it is better.

If you are not yet sold, I do ask that you continue reading. Certainly, for the attentive reader, you will see these three principles come up time and time again in the [real world!] examples I present.

As I have said, it has taken me a long time to come around and see this for myself. It is my hope here and now, that you benefit from my experience: When designing a functional component, think about how Interfaces, Encapsulation, and SoC can help you. Invariably, such considerations will lead to better design and better product.