New chapter: All functions tests = dead code

content/books/things-i-learnt/_index.md

@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ template = "section-contentless.html"
 	* [Write Steps as Comments](steps-as-comments)
 	* [Gherkin Is Your Friend to Understand Expectations](gherkin)
 	* [Unit Tests Are Good, Integration Tests Are Gooder](integration-tests)
+	* [Testing Every Function Creates Dead Code](tests-dead-code)
 	* [Tests Make Better APIs](tests-apis)
 	* [Make Tests That You Know How To Run on the Command line](tests-in-the-command-line)
 	* [Be Ready To Throw Your Code Away](throw-away)

content/books/things-i-learnt/integration-tests/index.md

@@ -66,4 +66,4 @@ parts.
 [^1]: There is no "unit" in "unit tests". "Unit test" means the test _is_ a
   unit, indivisible and dependent only on itself.
 
-{{ chapters(prev_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/gherkin", prev_chapter_title="Gherkin Is Your Friend to Understand Expectations", next_chapter_title="Tests Make Better APIs", next_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/tests-apis") }}
+{{ chapters(prev_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/gherkin", prev_chapter_title="Gherkin Is Your Friend to Understand Expectations", next_chapter_title="Testing Every Function Creates Dead Code", next_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/tests-dead-code") }}

content/books/things-i-learnt/tests-dead-code/index.md

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
++++
+title = "Things I Learnt The Hard Way - Testing Every Function Creates Dead Code"
+date = 2019-06-21
+
+[taxonomies]
+tags = ["en-au", "books", "things i learnt", "unit tests", "dead code"]
++++
+
+If you write a test for every single function on your system, and your system
+keeps changing, how will you know when a function is not necessary anymore?
+
+<!-- more -->
+
+Writing a test for every single function on your system may come from the
+"100% Coverage Syndrome", which afflicts some managers, thinking that the only
+way to be completely sure your system is "bug free" is to write tests for
+every single piece of code, till you reach the magical "100% coverage" in all
+the tests.
+
+I do believe you can reach 100% coverage, as long as you're willing to
+_delete_ your code.
+
+Cue the universal grasps here.
+
+But how do you know which pieces of code can be deleted?
+
+When I mentioned [integration
+tests](/books/things-i-learnt/integration-tests), I mentioned how much more
+sense it made to me reading them instead of the "unit" tests, because they
+were describing exactly how the system would operate in normal conditions. If
+you write tests the go through the system, doing normal operations, and you
+can get tests for all the normal cases -- and some "abnormal", like when
+things go wrong -- then you know that, if you run those tests and they mark
+some lines as "not tested", it's because you don't need them.
+
+"But Julio, you're forgetting the error control!" I do agree, specially when
+you're talking with project owners or some other expert, that people will
+forget to tell you what to do in case of things going wrong -- say, someone
+entering a name in the age field -- but _you_ can see those and _you_ know
+that you need error control so _you_ can add the error control and describe
+the situation where that error control would trigger.
+
+If, on the other hand, you write a test for every function, when you do a
+short/simple check, you'll find that the function is still being used in the
+system -- by the tests, not actually, "value to the user" code. Sure, you can
+use your IDE to go back and forth between code and test and see if it points a
+use beyond the test, but it won't do it for yourself.
+
+There is one other weird thing about trying to write integration tests for
+error controls: Sometimes, you can't reach the control. It's true! I did wrote
+control checks for every function once but, when running in the integration
+tests, there was no way to produce an input at the input layer of the system
+that would reach the error control in that function -- mostly 'cause the
+other functions, which would run before the one I was trying to test, would
+catch the error before it. If that's a design problem or not -- it probably
+was -- it's a different discussion, but the fact is that that function didn't
+need error control.
+
+{{ chapters(prev_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/integration-tests", prev_chapter_title="Unit Tests Are Good, Integration Tests Are Gooder", next_chapter_title="Tests Make Better APIs", next_chapter_link="/books/things-i-learnt/tests-apis") }}