Top all-time · #2495
The Code Whisperer
Personal blog · blog.thecodewhisperer.comprogrammingcareer
The Code Whisperer is a personal blog at blog.thecodewhisperer.com about programming and career. Since 2011, 31 different Hacker News readers have linked it 38 times, most often “Beware the Integrated Tests Scam”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-03-19, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (13) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link JB Rainsberger's blog for its arguments on testing, especially 'Integrated Tests Are a Scam' and its critique of integration tests, plus posts on TDD, learning tests and the wrong abstraction.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 13 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Beware the Integrated Tests Scam6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2019-01-31
- Integrated Tests Are a Scam (2010)5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2016-03-28
- TDD: You're Probably Doing It Just Fine2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-03-28
- /2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-11-17
- The Eternal Struggle Between Business and Programmers2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-11-11
What Hacker News says?
Counterpoint: Integrated Tests are a Scam https://blog.thecodewhisperer.com/permalink/integrated-tests... I found that argument more convincing, and it also aligns better with my experience. The point about 100% coverage not being a good goal is pretty solid.
Comment linking /permalink/integrated-tests-are-a-scam
on “Write tests. Not too many. Mostly integration (2017)”Submitted The Eternal Struggle Between Business and Programmers as a story · 27 points
HN discussionAs a counter point to this opinion of Kent's, who I respect greatly, I'd like to propose J. B. Rainsberger's article: "Integrated Tests Are A Scam" with presentation of the same name.[0] [0] https://blog.thecodewhisperer.com/permalink/integrated-tests...
Comment linking /permalink/integrated-tests-are-a-scam
on “Write tests. Not too many. Mostly integration (2017)”Submitted TDD: For Those Who Don't Know How to Design Software as a story · 10 points
HN discussionA graphic I found very enlightening in the past year is here: http://blog.thecodewhisperer.com/images/age_old_battle/virtu... from this blog post: http://blog.thecodewhisperer.com/2013/12/07/putting-an-age-o... There's a lot of other good stuff there too, when you start digging through the archives. Generally, I find that I've got to build a prototype first, which is quick and dirty and ugly, but works. Then iterate…
Comment linking /2013/12/07/putting-an-age-old-battle-to-rest/
on “The Wrong Abstraction”Submitted No More Boilerplate Code as a story · 8 points
HN discussionI believe Microsoft's Pex [1] is an attempt to generate all the unit tests automatically. You can't do that with integration tests, because their number grows exponentially with the number of paths in the code [2]. [1] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/pex-and-mol... [2] http://blog.thecodewhisperer.com/permalink/integrated-tests-...
Comment linking /permalink/integrated-tests-are-a-scam
on “Writing a formally-verified image browser in Coq and Haskell”Submitted Integrated Tests Are A Scam as a story · 5 points
HN discussionJB Rainsberger would like a word with you :-) https://blog.thecodewhisperer.com/permalink/integrated-tests...
Comment linking /permalink/integrated-tests-are-a-scam
on “When I do TDD and when I don’t”Submitted TDD: You're Probably Doing It Just Fine as a story · 4 points
HN discussionI use Learning Tests for such situations. https://blog.thecodewhisperer.com/permalink/when-to-write-le... (not fully read by me but seem to explain this technique very well)
Comment linking /permalink/when-to-write-learning-tests
on “Ask HN: How do you learn new libraries without much documentation?”Submitted TDD: You're Probably Doing It Just Fine as a story · 4 points
HN discussion> Technical know-how doesn't by itself qualify someone to help you implement changes towards becoming more effective. It can be detrimental, in fact. Yeah I'm well-aware of that. > One I recommend wholeheartedly is JB: http://blog.thecodewhisperer.com/ (and if you can't get him, try to find someone like him). Thanks for the suggestion.
Comment linking /
on “Pair Programming (give it a rest)”Submitted How TDD Affects My Designs as a story · 4 points
HN discussion> How did you go around to finding him? If you're going to shop around for a change agent, I recommend reading Jerry Weinberg's "Secrets of Consulting"; although this is targeted at consultants rather than their clients, it can provide useful insight into how to create an effective working partnership with one. Technical know-how doesn't by itself qualify someone to help you implement changes towards becoming more e…
Comment linking /
on “Pair Programming (give it a rest)”Submitted Stop. Write a learning test. as a story · 3 points
HN discussionJB says it better than I can: http://blog.thecodewhisperer.com/permalink/integrated-tests-... https://vimeo.com/80533536
Comment linking /permalink/integrated-tests-are-a-scam
on “Product Integration Testing at the Speed of Netflix”Submitted Which Kinds of Tests Should I Write? Revisited as a story · 2 points
HN discussionI think the point is something like "don't unit test the system as a whole". Black box testing is great and most definitely should be used, but should be kept very high level and unit tests should be kept very small and granular. The author has several other articles on the subject that I have not read yet, so I'm not sure if I've got a full understanding of his point yet: http://blog.thecodewhisperer.com/blog/categ…
Comment linking /blog/categories/integrated-tests-are-a-scam
on “Integrated Tests Are A Scam”Submitted When Subclasses Are Ready to Die as a story · 2 points
HN discussionLastly, I really wish the author would give suggestions for what he considers to be a better approach to testing, beyond "integration testing sucks and is a scam". He has more articles on better approaches than integration tests, but I haven't read them yet so I can't say if they answer your questions sufficiently: http://blog.thecodewhisperer.com/blog/categories/integrated-...
Comment linking /blog/categories/integrated-tests-are-a-scam
on “Integrated Tests Are A Scam”Submitted The Curious Case of Tautological TDD as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThe article linked from here on integrated tests, http://blog.thecodewhisperer.com/permalink/integrated-tests-... is also well worth reading.
Comment linking /permalink/integrated-tests-are-a-scam
on “Testing of Microservices”Submitted Beware the Integrated Tests Scam as a story · 1 points
HN discussion> Tests should mostly be integration, not unit. Other people disagree: < https://blog.thecodewhisperer.com/series#beware-the-integrat... > In short (IIUC), integration tests do not give you any feedback on when your design needs to change, while unit tests do.
Comment linking /series
on “The Code Review Pyramid”Submitted Beware the Integrated Tests Scam (2023) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Investing Wisely in Architecture Through Refactoring as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted What Is Refactoring? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted J.B. Rainsberger – Integrated Tests Are a Scam [Vimeo][2009] as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Putting an Age-Old Battle to Rest (2013) as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
