Using Tests as a Tool to Wrangle Legacy Projects
summary
Claims that adding tests makes legacy Rails apps less buggy, faster to change and deployments a non-event, shows a failed case where two uncoordinated Ember test suites died, and demonstrates concrete techniques: start with the easiest tests to force team decisions, extract code with the sprout method or sprout class to isolate dependencies, and learn behavior with characterization testing (reverse TDD). Mentions Rails + Ember, CI integration pitfalls, and that temporary ugliness is acceptable if tests enable safe refactoring.
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chapters (6)
- 0:00Introduction
- 3:20Legacy project traits
- 7:41Challenges and benefits
- 10:50Obstacles to testing
- 16:55Testing techniques
- 25:50Recap and Q&A
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