Keynote: What Drives Design?
We kicked off the day with an intriguing keynote on the driving forces behind design, focusing particularly on the latter two “D”s in various xDD methodologies (such as TDD, BDD, etc.). The talk started with a fascinating historical overview, showcasing how our industry is still relatively young, with many pioneers still active.
Rebecca Wirfs-Brock discussed Responsibility-Driven Design (RDD) and compared it with other development techniques like TDD, BDD, FDD, and DDD. Her insights into these patterns and their evolution were thought-provoking.
Making the Sausage
The session with Dan North, Neal Ford, Stuart Halloway, and Tyler Jennings explored BDD within the context of Clojure. Although it was an engaging discussion, I found it challenging to keep up with their fast-paced ideas. Functional programming can be complex, and with four functional experts presenting late-night code, it was a bit overwhelming.
Test-Driven Web UI Development
Scott Bellware shared his experiences bridging the gap between testers and TDD developers in agile teams. Here are some takeaways from his talk:
- Selenium is a powerful, free UI-automation testing framework. It can generate test code in various programming languages, though the generated tests often need further refinement.
- It’s essential to focus on the team’s overall productivity rather than individual productivity. Tests should describe the product rather than the implementation details.
- Good BDD tests should function like a Table of Contents, providing a high-level overview rather than delving into specifics unless necessary.
- Pair programming with testers and developers can uncover issues quickly, but a solid understanding of the test framework is crucial.
I gained some insights into Ruby and test automation, although we didn’t cover everything in detail. James Bach’s comments were particularly intriguing, and I would have liked to delve deeper into them.
Overall, the morning sessions provided valuable insights and sparked plenty of ideas for improving design and testing practices.