Dave Thomas on Testing Past, Present, and Future

Semaphore Uncut

In this episode of Semaphore Uncut, I talk with Dave Thomas, author of The Pragmatic Programmer, and many other well-known software engineering books. We discuss how software engineering has changed over many decades and how Dave's experiences have informed his attitudes to testing.

Key takeaways:

• Software is both abstract and changes the real world
• Computer science undergrads need more industrial experience
• Treat software testing as a tool, not a religion
• Use experience and judgement to choose when not to write tests
• Test maintenance is part of the ebb and flow of development
• Modern software is loosely coupled and ephemeral
• The Internet of Things is transforming software architecture
• The IoT opens a new frontier for integration testing

About Semaphore Uncut
In each episode of Semaphore Uncut, we invite software industry professionals to discuss the impact they are making and what excites them about the emerging technologies.