There are two ways to fire a machine gun in the dark [5]. You can find out exactly where your target is (range, elevation, and azimuth). You can determine the environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind, and so on). You can determine the precise specifications of the cartridges and bullets you are using, and their interactions with the actual gun you are firing. You can then use tables or a firing computer to calculate the exact bearing and elevation of the barrel. If everything works exactly as specified, your tables are correct, and the environment doesn't change, your bullets should land close to their target.
Or you could use tracer bullets.
Pragmatic Programmers tend to prefer using tracer bullets.
TIP 15: Use Tracer Bullets to Find the Target
Tracer code is not disposable: you write it for keeps. It contains all the error checking, structuring, documentation, and self-checking that any piece of production code has. It simply is not fully functional. However, once you have achieved an end-to-end connection among the components of your system, you can check how close to the target you are, adjusting if necessary. Once you are on target, adding functionality is easy. It is an incremental approach.
The tracer code approach has many advantages
The tracer code approach has many advantages
- Users get to see something working early:
- Developers build a structure to work in: This makes everyone more productive and encourages consistency.
- You have an integration platform: As the system is connected end-to-end, you have an environment to which you can add new pieces of code once they have been unit-tested.
- You have something to demonstrate
- You have a better feel for progress.
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