Book Image

Test-Driven Java Development, Second Edition - Second Edition

By : Viktor Farcic, Alex Garcia
Book Image

Test-Driven Java Development, Second Edition - Second Edition

By: Viktor Farcic, Alex Garcia

Overview of this book

Test-driven development (TDD) is a development approach that relies on a test-first procedure that emphasizes writing a test before writing the necessary code, and then refactoring the code to optimize it.The value of performing TDD with Java, one of the longest established programming languages, is to improve the productivity of programmers and the maintainability and performance of code, and develop a deeper understanding of the language and how to employ it effectively. Starting with the basics of TDD and understanding why its adoption is beneficial, this book will take you from the first steps of TDD with Java until you are confident enough to embrace the practice in your day-to-day routine.You'll be guided through setting up tools, frameworks, and the environment you need, and we will dive right into hands-on exercises with the goal of mastering one practice, tool, or framework at a time. You'll learn about the Red-Green-Refactor procedure, how to write unit tests, and how to use them as executable documentation.With this book, you'll also discover how to design simple and easily maintainable code, work with mocks, utilize behavior-driven development, refactor old legacy code, and release a half-finished feature to production with feature toggles.You will finish this book with a deep understanding of the test-driven development methodology and the confidence to apply it to application programming with Java.
Table of Contents (18 chapters)
Title Page
Packt Upsell
Contributors
Preface
9
Refactoring Legacy Code – Making It Young Again
Index

The kata exercise


The only way a programmer will be able to improve is through practice. Creating programs of different types and using different technologies usually provide a programmer with new insights into software construction. Based on this idea, a kata is an exercise that defines some requirements or fixed features to be implemented in order to achieve some goals.

The programmer is asked to implement a possible solution and then compare it with others trying to find the best. The key value of this exercise is not getting the fastest implementation but discussing decisions taken while designing the solution. In most cases, all programs created in kata are dropped at the end.

The kata exercise in this chapter is about a legacy system. This is a sufficiently simple program to be processed in this chapter but also complex enough to pose some difficulties.

Legacy kata

You have been given a task to adopt a system that is already in production, a working piece of software for a book library...