Extreme Programming Installed 13-15

Extreme programming installed
Chapters 13-15
Ron Jefferies, Ann Andreson, Chet Hendrickson
Editors: ?

Summary:
In chapter 13 the authors discuss unit tests and their importance in extreme programming. The programming team should use unit tests throughout the entire development life cycle to ensure that the system is tested thoroughly. The authors also suggest using a test driven development approach which involves writing tests before any system code is written. After the system code is written the unit tests should be run to verify the correctness of the code before it is added to the code repository.

Chapter 14 discusses the importance of writing code that effectively communicates ideas. The authors believe that good code should be able to be understood easily without in depth understanding of the specific techniques or algorithms used in the code.

Chapter 15 goes into detail about code repository management practices. In extreme programming, the code repository should be set up in such a way that programmers are able to work on separate pieces of the system individually without worrying about being blocked by other members of the programming team. The authors suggest using a system where code should be unit tested in order to achieve a release candidate state, only at that point can the code be integrated with the working system code. The authors also stress the importance of rapid commits to the repository in order for other team members to get new changes more quickly.

Discussion:
This reading is significant because it goes into detail about the importance of testing and continuous integration. I believe that the authors should have gone into more detail about effectively communicating code. Especially details like choosing variable or function names to communicate the programmers ideas. This work can be applied to any programming team since it involves practices that aid in distributed development.