TDD Solves the Blank Page Syndrome

In my personal blog I wrote about how the blank page syndrome can lead to procrastination. I gave an example of how it’s often difficult to know where to start when faced with a vaguely written bug report or an enhancement request. I suggested that one way to gain clarity is

Wax On, Wax Off — Red Bar, Green Bar

[This originally appeared in my personal blog on 6/29/2005. Reposted by request.]

TDD has become as automatic for me as breathing. It’s a beautiful thing when you get to start a new project from scratch and can write every line of code test-first. These days, however, I’m working on a legacy app with very little in the way of unit tests, and it feels as if I’m working at 5,000 meters above sea level and struggling for every breath of rarified atmosphere.

So I can only imagine how it seems to the rest of my team, for whom automated unit testing is a new concept. The level of drudgery involved in retrofitting a legacy app with a test harness rivals the chore of waxing Mr. Miyagi’s deck. All I can tell my teammates is that it’s good practice. Soon, writing unit tests becomes a habit, and then, eventually, it becomes pure instinct. Attack from the right? Wax On! Attack from the left? Wax Off! Add a new feature? HTTP-Unit! Change a business rule? JUnit! Keep it up, and that black belt will arrive in no time.