genericsteele
Joined 15 years ago
Karma
73
Submissions
33
Member since
Mar 5
Web contractor. http://iamericsteele.come
View on Hacker NewsRecent submissions
Comment · 12 years ago
But then how could I monetize it? I don't think I could run adverts on someone else's service?
Comment · 12 years ago
Yes, but I think it would be fun to gamify it somehow.
Comment · 12 years ago
Idea: StackOverflow for comebacks
I've always had a hard time coming up with a good comeback in conversations. It would be great to have a site where I could post a situation and have the community suggest and upvote/downvote insults and comebacks. Maybe introduce a real-time element so I could use it in an actual conversation.
Comment · 12 years ago
Idea: A paid, members-only app where people can post and discuss their ideas.
Comment · 12 years ago
SEEKING WORK - Rails MVP and Testing Consulting | Philadelphia, PA | Remote
[email protected]
-----------------------------------------
MVP Ruby on Rails Consulting and Development
-----------------------------------------
I'm a product consultant who enjoys working one-on-one with entrepreneurs to take an idea, shape it into a product, and then build the MVP with Ruby on Rails. My projects are driven by regular communication and feedback from you.
* Consultation & Project Plan: $500
* Development: $2k/week, $500/day
---------------------
Rails Testing Consulting
---------------------
You don't write tests for your Rails apps, and it's starting to hurt. The time you dedicate to debugging mysterious errors could be better spent confidently adding new features. Unfortunately, you don't have the time to figure it out on your own.
I can review your Rails app and put together a re-testing plan, train you or a team on how to test, and work with you to re-test your app.
* Rails Testing Audit and Plan: $500
* Rails Testing Mentorship: $500/month
* Rails Retesting: $2k/week
-----------------------
I'd love to hear from you via email at [email protected]
Comment · 12 years ago
That's the best of both worlds. I'm going to give this a try.
Comment · 12 years ago
SEEKING WORK - Rails MVP and Testing Consulting | Philadelphia, PA | Remote
[email protected]
-----------------------------------------
MVP Ruby on Rails Consulting and Development
-----------------------------------------
I'm a product consultant who enjoys working one-on-one with entrepreneurs to take an idea, shape it into a product, and then build the MVP with Ruby on Rails. My projects are driven by regular communication and feedback from you.
* Consultation & Project Plan: $500
* Development: $2k/week, $500/day
---------------------
Rails Testing Consulting
---------------------
You don't write tests for your Rails apps, and it's starting to hurt. The time you dedicate to debugging mysterious errors could be better spent confidently adding new features. Unfortunately, you don't have the time to figure it out on your own.
I can review your Rails app and put together a re-testing plan, train you or a team on how to test, and work with you to re-test your app.
* Rails Testing Audit and Plan: $500
* Rails Testing Training: $1000
* Rails Retesting: $2k/week
-----------------------
I'd love to hear from you via email at [email protected]
Comment · 13 years ago
1) is pretty hard, but I'm tackling some basic strategies to adding tests to an untested mass of code.
2) is the entire reason why I'm writing the book. Building a testing habit isn't as simple as following some basic tutorials. It's a fundamental shift in how you think about writing code and can't be summed up in a 5 minute blog, like you say.
To address your software, the answer is a little stretchy. For the code that depends on device data, you simulate as little device data as possible needed for your code to work. This means that if you have a method that only needs a device id, you only provide a device id. If you have a method that generates a report, you provide all the data that is needed in the report.
Another approach would be to try to group the test data together into common traits. I don't know enough about your software to come up with some examples, but you likely don't need to collect test data for every single device, but instead data that is representative of every single device.
If you want to find me on the twitter (@genericsteele), we could keep this conversation going. I'm interested in how you see the world of testing and just this thread has helped me think of new perspectives. I would love to figure out you could overcome the obstacles your work is throwing at you.
Comment · 13 years ago
Yeah I did.
1) Inheriting someone else's bad code and habits is a huge reason to throw testing out the window. It's really frustrating and always comes with a "We'll write tests in the future."
2) This goes in line with another thing I've been finding. It's super easy to show why you should test, but It's much harder to actually show how to test in the real world. These tutorials show the simplest way to write a test, and it hurts those trying to learn.
Comment · 13 years ago
A year ago, I would have agreed with you. There's nothing stopping you from building a successful product without writing tests. Since I built the habit of writing tests, though, It definitely makes a difference, especially if you're working with a team or contractors.
Tests are a super helpful way to say "See, this works. Make sure it keeps working, everyone."