Over time, I have found that building an app is like constructing a house. You need to ensure a strong foundation and infrastructure, but you also want to decorate and furnish it to make it feel alive. As developers, we’re often caught in this balancing act: pushing out features quickly versus ensuring the app is stable and reliable through testing. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of adding new functionality or planning the next feature, but neglecting tests can lead to a crumbling foundation that will eventually cost more time and money to repair.
The red-green-refactor paradigm is a common practice in test-driven development, but it can be tempting to skip the “red” (test) phase when we’re still figuring out how a feature will work. While delivering features quickly might feel like a win, not writing tests introduces significant risks But just like building a house without inspecting the structure, we eventually realize that skipping tests has consequences. Bugs creep in, users report issues, and suddenly we’re spending more time fixing problems than developing new ones.
Additionally, skipping tests leads to the accumulation of technical debt over time. When we ignore testing, the code becomes a ticking bug bomb. Small bugs turn into bigger issues, and refactoring the app becomes more difficult with each additional feature. Just like ignoring structural damage in a house, the longer we wait to address these issues, the more expensive they become. Automated tests act as our early-warning system, letting us catch problems early before they spiral out of control.
Moreover, not having tests is often a “smell” that detracts from the quality of an application. For other developers joining the project, the lack of tests can signal deeper structural issues or make it harder to understand and trust the codebase. Without tests, new contributors may hesitate to make changes, fearing they’ll inadvertently break something. This can slow down development and make collaboration more challenging, particularly in large teams or open-source projects.
However, that doesn’t mean we need to test every line of code from day one. Testing doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing approach. It’s about finding the right balance: testing core functionality and critical integrations that could break the app if they failed, and gradually building on that coverage as the app grows. For small personal projects, tests may not be as crucial, but for long-lasting or large applications, they can be lifesavers. Like building a house with a solid foundation, automated tests give us the stability to add more features with confidence—knowing that the structure won’t collapse under the weight.
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