php

There is no such thing as a perfect employee match in programming. If you write a list of technologies in the job description and expect to find a candidate with the all right experiences, you will be strongly disappointed. You could spend months or years searching, while overlooking very good candidates just because they lack one or two skills.

Many developers claim that to achieve high quality software, developers must create automated tests that ensure that all possible execution routes have been covered. This is also known as full path coverage. I will argue that different types of software require different testing approaches and that full path coverage is impractical in almost every case. Too many tests simply create clutter.

A montreal-based newspaper recently released a new mobile product to read news. It’s very nice, but it cost them 40 million and took 3 years to ship, with some 100 people on the team. My company has enough experience with news corporations and other industries to know that there was a lot of waste. My associate stated on social media that he could save them millions on their next project. It’s what we specialize in: generating millions in ROI for our clients.

Most see this as a good thing, but I find the whole “we need more women speakers” speech very irritating. Too many PHP conferences are doing it. I don’t like that. I have your attention, but you may have already come up with some questions for me. Are you against diversity? Are you sexist? Do you think that women should stay at home and cook? The simple fact of my disagreeing on the topic almost inevitably lead to such assumptions. I will explain my position through personal stories.

I have recently read a blog post claiming that functional tests are not “true” tests. The author also claims that unit testing shows you where the problem is occurring, while functional testing simply identifies that a problem exists. This argument is deceptive and the conclusion dangerous. Different kinds of tests are not mutually exclusive. One is not superior to the other. They have different goals and can happily coexist. Let me explain the kinds of tests so that you could make enlightened decisions.

Do you want to write unit tests but don’t know where to begin? Don’t panic and follow these steps to ease into the testing business. Practice testing often to achieve best results.

Tip: try to test the smallest unit possible, usually a function, rather than a combination of functions. Testing combinations is called integration testing, which I will cover in subsequent posts.

Here are a few easy to spot opportunities for writing unit tests.

When you encounter bugs.

I have been speaking at, attending and organizing conferences for the last 7 years. I have enough to say about this topic to write a book, so I’ll stick with an overview and let you fill in the details with your creativity. This post focuses on presentations in the IT world.

Developers always learn new things. They read books and blogs. They attend conferences and workshops. They are expected to apply this newfound knowledge in their projects to increase software performance, security and quality. But projects are all about delivery. Where and when can a developer practice theory? This is an often overlooked element.

If you have never heard of ConFoo, it is one of the most important developer-oriented conferences. The team brings 100 speakers from around the globe to share their hands-on experience with various web technologies. The best news is: it’s driven by the community and is non profit!

I read an interesting point of view from Melinda Seckington. One thing that caught my eye was her mention of how she wears geeky t-shirts so that people believe that she’s actually a geek. Like her, I prefer to wear womanly clothes in public. But the assumption doesn’t bother me. Here’s why.