Section 8.8. Conclusion

8.8. Conclusion

I'd like to end on a philosophical note, to try to persuade you to read through the chapter again, read Test::Tutorial, visit http://qa.perl.org, or otherwise expand your knowledge of testing with the many resources available.

I used to be extremely hubristic about testing. My attitude was "if it didn't work, I wouldn't have released it!" and I provided only the most minimal of tests with my modules. I've since become a reformed character. Over the past few years, I've become personally more and more convinced of the merit of writing comprehensive test suites for the modules and code that I produce.

Even if you're not a devotee of test-driven developmentwriting your tests first and then writing code until they passa full test suite makes sure that any future changes you make don't cause problems with old functionality; I've found it beneficial to add every bug report I've been sent as a test case, to aid regression testing. If nothing else, adding tests to a module gives the end user confidence that your code is thorough and robust. And, finally, even the most basic of tests can, to mix metaphors, nip glaring bugs in the bud.

In short, tests are a good thing. And, thankfully, with modules like Test::More and Test::Simple, they need not be a pain to write. I may have joked earlier that nothing bar laziness and hubris could stop one from writing tests, but even that doesn't stand up to examinationnot writing tests is false laziness. The certainty that resolved bugs are not going to recur is ample payoff for the time spent writing tests.

Get into the discipline of testing. It will save you time, and it will spare you blushes.