Charlottesville .Net User Group

Testable codebases make developers’ lives better. Code is easier to maintain, it is often easier to read, and we have more confidence in our ability to make changes. We lose that confidence when applications are not testable. Refactoring becomes riskier, bugs reappear after being fixed, and we feel added stress every time we need to make a change to the system. To avoid changing code, we write duplicate or extra code. This behavior can slowly (or quickly) evolve the system into a maintenance nightmare. To increase testability, we must build applications as small, independent pieces of functionality that are loosely coupled to each other. Only then can we write thorough, reliable tests, which provide a high level of confidence when we modify our codebases.

Justin Etheredge is a Microsoft C# MVP, author at CodeThinked.com, and founder of the Richmond Software Craftsmanship Group. He is a Senior Consultant at Dominion Digital (DominionDigital.com) in Richmond, Virginia, where he provides guidance in designing and building systems of all shapes and sizes.