Why most unit testing is a waste of time

Once a beloved cornerstone of agile methodology, Test-Driven Development (TDD) has seen its star fade over the past decade. Research reveals that TDD can actually decrease software quality, and its rigid practices are increasingly seen as outdated in modern development cultures. Yet, despite its flaws, unit testing continues to hold sway, largely fueled by developers' need for control and agile’s ideal of independence.

In this talk, James O. Coplien will demystify why unit testing in object-oriented (OO) development often misses the mark. Through insightful examples, he will show why testing individual instance methods is rarely effective in an OO context and how reliance on unit testing can actually introduce more bugs than it prevents. Learn how system testing, supported by well-placed assertions, can provide a far more powerful and productive path forward.