To Catch a Bug, Think Like a Bug

Bob Evans (Agitar Software)

Tutorials · Developing

Thursday, 10:30, 1 hour 30 minutes | Auditorium

Legacy code is infested with bugs. You, the developer, are the exterminator and on top of that you are adding new features to that code. "Unit testing is a great way to stop bugs", you are told. "Test Driven Development is even better." But, cracking open legacy code to augment it is like turning over logs at night, little bugs come running out in all directions. This hampers the good intentions to adopt more agile development practices like developer testing.  Of all the tools available to you, the least understood, the least discussed, but the most powerful, is the lowly assertion statement found in any unit testing framework. Assertions are a tool for talking about code, which is where bugs live. Assertions make it easy to think like bugs, and therefore they make it easy to trap bugs. But you need a plan, especially for legacy code! This interactive tutorial will show developers how to examine their code and how to trap the bugs effectively and systematically. Attendees will learn a plan for trapping bugs in their code with assertions, while not laying traps for themselves in the future. The plan is simple, easy to use, and comprehensive. After this talk, you will know how to effectively test your code as deeply and completely as you need or want, and best of all, you'll know how complete your tests are if you need to apply more effort in the future.

Bob Evans has been developing Object-Oriented software development for over 10 years, and has spent many of those focused on implementing agile methods and practices. He has worked in a variety of fields from network management, to developer tools. Currently, he researches and develops new developer testing techniques and tools at Agitar Software Corporation. His mission in life is to create software tools that make people more productive. He is a frequent speaker at conferences including SD West, JavaOne, SD Forum, and Agile. He is also a member of the ACM, the IEEE Computer Society, the Agile Alliance, and the Silicon Valley Patterns Group.