The Cost of Hasty Development

Introduction

When developing software, it can be tempting to take shortcuts and add features quickly and without much testing. However, this can lead to problems down the road.

My Experience

I recently experienced the cost of hasty development firsthand while developing my project, Smart. I started out by adding features as I needed them, without much thought to testing or quality assurance. As a result, my code became increasingly complex and difficult to maintain.

Eventually, I hit a breaking point. My code was full of bugs, and it was taking me more and more time to add new features. I knew that I needed to make a change, so I started writing unit tests.

Writing unit tests helped me to identify and fix bugs in my code. It also helped me to make my code more maintainable. As a result, I was able to add new features to my project more quickly and easily.

Tips for Reducing the Cost of Hasty Development

Here are some tips for reducing the cost of hasty development:

  • Plan your project carefully. Before you start coding, take some time to think about what you want to build. What are the features that you need? What are the non-functional requirements, such as performance and scalability?
  • Design your code carefully. Once you have a plan for your project, you need to design your code. This includes choosing the right data structures and algorithms, and designing your code for maintainability.
  • Write unit tests. Unit tests are essential for ensuring that your code is working correctly. They also help you to identify bugs early on, before they become a major problem.
  • Get feedback from others. Once you have a working prototype, get feedback from other developers. This will help you to identify any problems with your design or implementation.

Additional Tips

  • Use a version control system. A version control system will allow you to track changes to your code and revert to previous versions if necessary.
  • Automate your builds. This will help you to ensure that your code is always building and running correctly.
  • Document your code. This will help you and others to understand how your code works.
  • Use a continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline. This will allow you to automatically deploy your code to production after each change.

By following these tips, you can reduce the risk of problems caused by hasty development.

Conclusion

Hasty development can save time in the short-term, but it can lead to problems down the road. By following the tips in this article, you can reduce the cost of hasty development and build high-quality software that is easy to maintain.

Additional Notes

  • I did not start over the project from scratch. I simply reworked the existing code to add unit tests.
  • My code is indeed getting richer features, but it is not getting difficult to maintain. The only reason it was difficult to maintain in the past is because it lacked unit tests.
  • Without unit tests, it was easy to introduce bugs into the code when making changes. This made it difficult to add new features and fix bugs.
  • With unit tests, I can now be confident that my code is working correctly. This makes it much easier to add new features and fix bugs.