Test & Code

There's a cool feature of pytest called parametrization. It's totally one of the superpowers of pytest. It's actually a handful of features, and there are a few ways to approach it. Parametrization is the ability to take one test, and send lots of different input datasets into the code under test, and maybe even have different output checks, all within the same test that you developed in the simpl...

You've incorporated software testing into your coding practices and know from experience that it helps you get your stuff done faster with less headache. Awesome. Now your colleagues want in on that super power and want to learn testing. How do you help them? That's where Josh Peak is. He's helping his team add testing to their workflow to boost their productivity. That's what we're talking about...

Good software testing strategy is one of the best ways to save developer time and shorten software development delivery cycle time. Software test suites grow from small quick suites at the beginning of a project to larger suites as we add tests, and the time to run the suites grows with it. Fortunately, pytest has many tricks up it's sleave to help shorten those test suite times. Niklas Meinzer is...

Adafruit enables beginners to make amazing hardware/software projects. With CircuitPython, these projects can now use Python. The combination of Python's ease of use and Adafruit's super cool hardware and a focus on a successful beginner experience makes learning to write code that controls hardware super fun. In this episode, Scott Shawcroft, the project lead, talks about the past, present, and f...

Bob Belderbos and Julian Sequeira started PyBites a few years ago. They started doing code challanges along with people around the world and writing about it. Then came the codechalleng.es platform, where you can do code challenges in the browser and have your answer checked by pytest tests. But how does it all work? Bob joins me today to go behind the scenes and share the tech stack running the P...

Anthony Sottile is a pytest core contributor, as well as a maintainer and contributor to many other projects. In this episode, Anthony shares some of the super cool features of pytest that have been added since he started using it. We also discuss Anthony's move from user to contributor, and how others can help with the pytest project. Special Guest: Anthony Sottile. Links: pytest documentation py...

In the last episode, we talked about going from script to supported package. I worked on a project called subark and did the packaging with flit. Today's episode is a continuation where we add new features to a supported package and how to develop and test a flit based package. Covered: viewing stages of a project with git tags flit support for editable installs flit description entry in pyproject...

This episode is a story about packaging, and flit, tox, pytest, and coverage. And an alternate solution to "using the src". Python makes it easy to build simple tools for all kinds of tasks. And it's great to be able to share small projects with others on your team, in your company, or with the world. When you want to take a script from "just a script" to maintainable package, there are a few step...

Some information about software testing is just wrong. I'm not talking about opinions. I have lots of opinions and they differ from other peoples opinions. I'm talking about misinformation and old information that is no longer applicable. I've ran across a few lateley that I want to address. All of the following are wrong: Integrated tests can't work. I can prove it with wacky math. Tests have to...

Roadblocks to writing tests, and what to do about it. Some developers either don't write tests, or don't like writing tests. Why not? I love writing tests. In this episode we examine lots of roadblocks to testing, and start coming up with solutions for these. Links: "I don’t write tests because ____. " twitter question episode 75: Modern Testing Principles episode 76: TDD: Don’t be afraid of Test-...

Creating maintainable test suites for complex systems. The episode describes some complexities involved with hardware testing, then shares techniques for shifting complexity out of the test cases. quick overview of what test instruments are discussion of API and communication with instruments techniques for shifting complexity out of test cases These techniques should apply to all test suites deal...

Test Driven Development, TDD, can be intimidating to try. Why is that? And how can we make it less scary? That's what this episode is about. Chris May is a Python developer and the co-founder of PyRVA, the Richmond Virginia Python group. In this episode, Chris shares his experience with adding testing and TDD to his work flow. I really enjoyed talking with Chris, and I think his story will help lo...

Software testing, if done right, is done all the time, throughout the whole life of a software project. This is different than the verification and validation of a classical model of QA teams. It's more of a collaborative model that actually tries to help get great software out the door faster and iterate quicker. One of the people at the forefront of this push is Alan Page. Alan and his podcast c...

In this episode, I talk with Derrick Mar, CTO and co-founder of Pathrise. This is the episode you need to listen to to get ready for software interviews. We discuss four aspects of technical interviews that interviewers are looking for: communication problem solving coding verification How to practice for the interview. Techniques for synchronizing with interviewer and asking for hints. Even how t...

This is a "Yay! It's PyCon 2019" episode. PyCon is very important to me. But it's kinda hard to put a finger on why. So I figured I'd ask more people to help explain why it's important. I ask a few simple questions to people about Python and PyCon and get some great insights into both the language popularity and the special place this conference holds to many people.

Some typical technical interview practices can be harmful and get in the way of hiring great people. April Wensel offers advice to help fix the technical interview process. She recommends: hire for mindset and attitude look for empathy and mentorship skills allow candidates to show their strengths instead of hunting for weaknesses have the candidate leave feeling good about themselves and your com...

Nina Zakharenko gives some great advice about giving tech talks. We talk about a blog series that Nina wrote called "The Ultimate Guide To Memorable Tech Talks". This episode is full of great help and encouragement for your own public speaking adventures. Some of what we discuss: overcoming the fear of public speaking breathing and pausing during talks planning your talk as well as planning your t...

Dane and Brian discuss skills needed for people that become software developers from non-traditional paths. Dane is also writing a book to address many of these skill gaps, Code Like a Pro , that's currently in an early access phase. Use code podtest&code19 to get a discount. And, sign up as a Friend of the Show to enter for a chance to win a free copy of the eBook version. We also discuss the...

Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas wrote the seminal software development book, The Pragmatic Programmer. Together they founded The Pragmatic Programmers and are well known as founders of the agile movement and authors of the Agile Manifesto. They founded the Pragmatic Bookshelf publishing business in 2003. The Pragmatic Bookshelf published it's most important book, in my opinion, in 2017 with the first py...

With conventional TDD, you write a failing test, get it to pass, then refactor. Then run the tests again to make sure your refactoring didn't break anything. But what if it did break something? Kent Beck has been recommending to commit your code to revision control after every green test run. Oddmund Strømme suggested a symmetrical idea to go ahead and revert the code when a test fails. Kent write...

In today's episode we talk with Kelly Paredes & Sean Tibor. They teach Python in a middle school in Florida, and talk about this experience on the podcast "Teaching Python". I love that they include physical computing right from the start, and everything else they are doing. It's a fun interview. Special Guests: Kelly Paredes and Sean Tibor. Links: Teaching Python

I was recently interviewed on a podcast called "IT Career Energizer Podcast". Phil Burgess is the host of the podcast, and it was a lot of fun. I think it turned out well, and I wanted to share it with you here, with Phil's permission, of course. Special Guest: Phil Burgess. Links: IT Career Energizer Podcast

Is it ok to have more than one assert statement in a test? I've seen articles that say no, you should never have more than one assert. I've also seen some test code made almost unreadable due to trying to avoid more than one assert per test. Where did this recommendation even come from? What are the reasons? What are the downsides to both perspectives? That's what we're going to talk about today....

I want you to get the most out of being a software developer, or test engineer, or whatever you do that makes this podcast relevant to your life. By "get the most" I mean: the most fun the most value more career options probably more responsibility maybe even more money, that'd be cool I want you to start (or continue) studying and practicing your skills. But not just random practice, I've got a s...

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. -- Confucius Matt Harrison is an author and instructor of Python and Data Science. This episode focuses on his training company, MetaSnake, and corporate training. Matt's written several books on Python, mostly self published. So of course we talk about that. But the bulk of the conversation is about corporate training, with Brian p...