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Delete tests

(andre.arko.net)
125 points mooreds | 1 comments | 27 Aug 25 11:18 UTC | HN request time: 0.209s | source
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recursivedoubts ◴[30 Aug 25 02:27 UTC] No.45071410[source]▶
One of the most important things you can do is move your tests up the abstraction layers and away from unit tests. For lack of a better term, to move to integration tests. End-to-end tests are often too far from the system to easily understand what's wrong when they break, and can overwhelm a development org. Integration tests (or whatever you want to call them) are often the sweet spot: not tied to a particular implementation, able to survive fairly significant system changes, but also easy enough to debug when they break.

https://grugbrain.dev/#grug-on-testing

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RHSeeger ◴[30 Aug 25 03:42 UTC] No.45071726[source]▶
Integration tests and Unit tests are different tools; and each has their place and purpose. Using one "instead" of the other is a mistake.
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simianwords ◴[30 Aug 25 05:48 UTC] No.45072176[source]▶
Wow I hate this dogmatism. It is indeed better to use one instead of the other. Let’s stop pretending all are equally good and we need every type of test.

Sometimes you just don’t need unit tests and it’s okay to admit it and work accordingly.

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RHSeeger ◴[30 Aug 25 05:54 UTC] No.45072205[source]▶
And sometimes you only need screws, instead of nails; or vice versa. But that doesn't invalidate the tool; it just means your use case doesn't need it.
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1. imiric ◴[30 Aug 25 06:48 UTC] No.45072446[source]▶
You can't build a house without nails and screws, though.

Sure, if you're only writing a small script, you might not need tests at all. But as soon as that program evolves into a system that interacts with other systems, you need to test each component in isolation, as well as how it interacts with other systems.

So this idea that unit tests are not useful is coming from a place of laziness. Some developers see it as a chore that slows them down, instead of seeing it as insurance that makes their life easier in the long run, while also ensuring the system works as intended at all layers.