Testing My Code: A Beginner's Guide
What I wish I'd known when I started writing tests
I used to skip testing. I'd write code, check if it worked manually, then move on. Tests seemed like extra work for something that already worked. Then I spent a weekend debugging a bug that tests would have caught in minutes, and I changed my mind.
Writing tests felt awkward at first. I didn't know what to test or how to test it. But like anything, it got easier with practice.
I started with the easy stuff. Functions that took inputs and returned outputs. Pure functions with no side effects. Those were straightforward to test. Then I moved to more complex things. API endpoints, components, user interactions. Each type of code needed a different approach, and I learned as I went.
Writing tests forced me to think about edge cases. What happens if the input is null? What if the API fails? What if the user does something unexpected? I started thinking about these things before they became bugs. Tests also made refactoring less scary. I could change code and know immediately if I broke something. That confidence made me more willing to improve things.
I don't test everything. Some code isn't worth testing. Some tests aren't worth writing. The goal is to catch bugs and enable refactoring, not to achieve 100% coverage. I focus on the important stuff. Business logic, critical paths, things that are hard to test manually. The rest, I test manually or skip.
I'm still learning. I write better tests now than I did a year ago, and I'm sure I'll write better tests next year. But even basic tests are better than no tests. If you're not testing, start small. Write one test. See how it feels. Then write another. Don't try to test everything at once. Just start.
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