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I think "How confusing is this going to be to the one consuming this" (assuming you're not writing the front end as well) is the more important question to ask



This way of thinking was my main motivation behind Grip [0]. Use Readme-driven development and "play" with the API--whether it's in the form of a CLI, a library, or web API-- through usage examples.

I've found this to be a wonderful way to get into the heads of dev users before you approach them directly.

[0]: https://github.com/joeyespo/grip


And the one most rarely asking in my experience too


In my opinion, asking this question is the key benefit of test-driven development. You get to be the consumer, write down your expectations, and then work backwards from yours-as-consumer expectations.


I find the opposite tends to happen in Java. In the pursuit of testability, people make libraries much harder to use and understand.


Writing good tests is a skill that has to be developed, just like anything else.


It should be, but too often people write bad tests that test whst they wrote and not what it’s supposed to do.

Writing good tests is a skill and most developers don’t seem to be as skilled in it as they think.

The same concepts power much of Agile too though: XP & Scrum both complement this.


Isn't that basically what he said? :)




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