As a newer developer, facing a challenging problem often leads to feeling overwhelmed. Multi-layered requirements can feel jumbled and hard to parse,

Tackling Complexity: The Power of Test-Driven Development for New Developers

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2024-06-06 18:30:04

As a newer developer, facing a challenging problem often leads to feeling overwhelmed. Multi-layered requirements can feel jumbled and hard to parse, which might cause you to jump into writing the functionality despite growing confusion. For most, this approach usually results in further confusion as you get tangled in unresolved parts of the puzzle. This is where breaking down problems into manageable parts becomes essential. And, test-driven development (TDD) can be a powerful strategy to achieve this.

You can use various strategies to navigate confusion and cluttered thoughts but I’ve been successful with test-driven development. Test-driven development, or TDD, is a development strategy where you write tests before or during coding. In essence, TDD simplifies complex functionality into basic components. Code is only added to pass one test at a time without breaking existing components. This iterative process ensures that every piece of functionality is tested as it is developed, making the codebase robust and reliable.

Especially for new developers, TDD can help refocus on the core elements of a function: its inputs and outputs. By building the expectations for a function test by test, you can handle different scenarios systematically. While some developers write all tests up front, I prefer to write one at a time, focusing on understanding each piece before moving on. This approach mitigates the overwhelming nature of complex problems by breaking them down into manageable tasks.