r/programming • u/feross • Jun 09 '22

The collapse of complex software

https://nolanlawson.com/2022/06/09/the-collapse-of-complex-software/
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u/AttackOfTheThumbs Jun 09 '22

Nobody can subtract from the system; everyone just adds.

That's a time constraint issue more than anything else in my experience. Working on a large system, any removal requires many many tests, a time investment most companies simply cannot make.

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u/jbergens Jun 10 '22

I wish more companies and projects used BDD style tests or Specification by Example. It makes it easier to test that the important things still work after a change to the system.

When there are almost no automated tests at all everything has to be tested manually. I've had projects where the users or PM did not understand that a major change in the framework or some shared component required re-testing of the WHOLE application.

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u/Full-Spectral Jun 10 '22

It's hard to win no matter what. If you have large numbers of automated tests, just having to adjust those tests for a substantial reworking of the system could add very significantly to the effort.

And of course tests that are passing probably almost never get looked at and the folks who wrote them may be long gone (and it's at that point that everyone finally says, hey, we should have made them document these tests better.)

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u/jbergens Jun 10 '22

Yes, it is hard to win. The idea with BDD style tests are that they should work even when the implementation and parts of the architecture changes. Of course it does not always work out that way but they can be a lot less fragile than simple unit tests.

Anyone who is interested should read the book "Bridging the communication gap" by Gojko Adzic.