[rspec-users] Prepare for newbie-ness

[James Cox]

On 16 Sep 2008, at 20:05, David Chelimsky wrote:

> On Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 1:59 PM, Mark Wilden <mark at mwilden.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 10:00 AM, Martin Streicher
>> <martin.streicher at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> 3/ Has any documented how to run the debugger via rspec to help  
>>> track down
>>> errors?
>>
>> We TDD/BDD/Agile practitioners aren't supposed to use a debugger,
>
> Please pay no attention to that sort of bullshit :)
>
> The idea is that TDD, practiced with discipline, should make you
> depend less on a debugger. This is a good thing since debugging time
> is impossible to estimate. But the idea that you're not supposed to
> use a debugger is religious hog-wash.

Indeed - which i counter with: i'm still pre proper tdd enough that  
it's _faster_ than writing tests that i know are valid and making my  
code bend entirely around it. It's a fine mesh of both, i think. You  
are right about it being hard to estimate - but i think that  
estimation is as much to do with general experience as it is with the  
type of task: a well experienced hacker will know to set aside a  
number of hours for a difficult task (spiking) if they're not sure of  
the full requirement or the right approach.

-james