Ideology: A talk by Gary Bernhardt from Loop 2015
The article discusses the conflicting views on the necessity of unit tests and type systems in programming. Some argue that unit tests can replace type systems, while others believe type systems eliminate the need for unit tests. The piece aims to explore the underlying beliefs that inform these perspectives.
- ▪Some people believe that unit tests make type systems unnecessary.
- ▪Others argue that type systems make unit tests unnecessary.
- ▪The article uses examples to delve into the beliefs shaping these views.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Some people claim that unit tests make type systems unnecessary: "types are just simple unit tests written for you, and simple unit tests aren't the important ones". Other people claim that type systems make unit tests unnecessary: "dynamic languages only need unit tests because they don't have type systems." What's going on here? These can't both be right. We'll use this example and a couple others to explore the unknown beliefs that structure our understanding of the world. If you liked this, you might also like Execute Program: interactive courses on TypeScript, Modern JavaScript, SQL, regular expressions, and more. Each course is made up of hundreds of interactive code examples running live in your browser.
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Destroyallsoftware.
Discussion
0 commentsMore from Destroyallsoftware
