Classic OOP in Python

[Ned Batchelder]

On Wednesday, June 17, 2015 at 4:39:31 PM UTC-4, Marko Rauhamaa wrote:
> The way it was explained to me was that in TDD you actually don't write
> code to any requirements or design: you simply do the least to pass the
> tests. Thus, say you need to write a program that inputs a string and
> outputs the same string surrounded by parentheses (the requirement), the
> starting point might be this test case:
> 
>    - run the program
>    - give it the word "hello" as input
>    - check that the program prints out "(hello)"
> 
> The right TDD thing would be to satisfy the test with this program:
> 
>    input()
>    print("(hello)")
> 
> That *ought* to be the first version of the program until further test
> cases are added that invalidate it.

The true TDD acolytes advocate a very idiosyncratic workflow, it's true.
I don't do this, but I also don't consider myself a TDD person. I value
tests a great deal, and put a lot of effort into them, but I don't write
trivial functions to get my tests to pass and then go back to change them.

But people whose opinion I value do advocate that, and it's possible that
in time I will understand their methods and use them myself.  Stranger
things have happened...

--Ned.