#110

In defence of bad testing, test driven design is often not pushed from the top down onto developers (and should be), but obviously it’s not always possible to apply that to all work.

But more than that, in the 18 years I’ve been at my company I have noted how the requirements are much larger and so test plans in the TS for the developer to consider have either not been included or been marginalised. Also, developing code and understanding how a user will use it are two quite different things. It’s seldom very useful for a developer to test their code much because they will typically just reinforce their own ideas of use.

The issue you’re highlighting is down to a lack of testing staff, generally because most companies figure it’s cheaper to just bounce the code back and forth from end users to developers. They are quite possibly right, but it creates huge frustrations for users.

Caveat: I am obviously not defending all that shit code where literally it breaks on step one. Some coders are just big doofuses.

#111

Or worse, bad requirements gathering. The software industry is terrible at requirements and even worse at dealing with change.

1 Like
#112

Yeah, although that’s a also down to the customer. You deliver software and when the support queries come in you realise the people from the customer who told you want the software had to do clearly didn’t actually ask their staff first. Sometimes I think this is down to management wanting to impose a certain sort of workflow routine but it doesn’t help anyone to look good in the end.

#113

I thought everyone and their dog were using Agile now??

#114

Fixed that for you.

5 Likes
#115

^this. I work in research and most of the code I write is either to analyse data I’ve generated or to run a specific experiment. I wouldn’t consider myself a coder and generally just end up learning what I need as I go along.

Interestingly, it’s now a requirement that any code and data from Research Council funded projects is made open, including scripts used for data analysis. This definately makes you think more carefully about how you code when you know everything you do will eventually be public!

#116

Made a new years resolution to learn to code a few years back, learnt a bit of python - realised coding is just lego for people too embarrassed to admit they’re still children - and put the whole thing down forever.

#117

u ok hun?

#118

I’ll have you know I enjoy coding AND Lego. :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#119

Fucking love coding but don’t do it enough

#120

yeah i do code

day job at the moment involves me doing stuff with C#, SQL, ASP.NET, bit of VBA, bit of Python. seem to be going down a web development route at the moment but i’ve done lots of desktop stuff with C#, and i have released a (rubbish) Android app that i knocked up in my spare time.

did some robotic process automation last year as it’s a Big Thing in my department at work and although i like the idea of it, in practice it’s a bit shit to develop - the tool we used is like trying to code with one arm behind your back, with half the keys on your keyboard missing and you have to come up with ways to do things with the limited toolset you have available. at least that’s my experience with it.

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#121

Me too, work as an Android developer in the London metropolitan elite city zone. I even made a native app that allows you to browse the old forums, and it still works

754×1324 155 KB

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#122

Love that the Sophie Ellis Bextor thread’s immortalised on that archived frontpage

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#123

What did you use for Android? I looked at it ages ago with Java, but there is only so much I can do in my spare time before it becomes a chore. i.e. doing the exact thing as I do all week.

But I’ve been intrigued by the Xamarin stuff as it’s closer to my normal skillset.

#124

I used Android Studio so I used Java too.

I keep meaning to have a look at Xamarin, think I get a load of training stuff for it with my MSDN subscription but never got round to it. A guy at work used it I think for a game he released on Android and iOS, said he liked it either way though.

#125

Why didn’t I know about this at the time???

#126

@chris-budget really brought the smackdown here, tbf


nice work.

#127

smashed out about 5 lines yesterday. got stuck with asynchronous methods.

back to “mentoring” real developers or whatever it is I do.

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#128

I was there, through the 90s. It went from loads of science with a little bit computing to loads of computing with a little science. Was better at probem solving and coming up with multiple solutions than real science. So ideal for IT.

JCL, Fortran 77, Fortan 90, DEC and DCL, Cray

The best part was having access to Cray supercomputers. I could look at them, but was not allowed to sit on them. The Fortran code base for the global weather model was so massive and complex that DEC/Cray used it to QA new releases of Fortran compilers.

#129

I was stuck for two hours yesterday due to incompatible versions of NuGet packages. Though of course the errors didn’t make this obvious did they? It’s just like the old days of DLL version hell.

3 Likes