Videos to make you less grumpy

You're (Probably) Testing Things Wrong

(Published Dec 9, 2022)

As someone who has been shouting (virtually or otherwise) at developers to test their PHP code since 2003, I forget how intimidating the whole topic can be. Why are we doing this again? What are the tools I should be learning? How do I convince my boss and co-workers that we should invest the time and resources into creating automated test suites? It's a lot to learn.

Given that I had to learn these things by walking uphill both ways in the snow, I don't want you to suffer the same way I did. I've created this 2 hour video to help you look at how you have been testing things and where you might be doing it wrong. No judgement! We are all at different stages in our journey to make testing our code just something we do instead of something we worry about.

In this video I cover these topics and more:

• reasons why we should be testing (beyond because I said so!)
• re-learning the different types of tests
• why the testing pyramid is a bad visualization of test suites
• what PHP features lead to impactful test suites
• books and resources that will help

For just US$19, you get the video to keep forever. My own experiences have been that the first time your tests identify a bug that would reach production you will make your money back.

While the code examples are using PHP and related tools, the concepts I talk about are applicable to ANY language that uses assertion-based testing tools. I've successfully used these techniques on JavaScript and Python code bases. The main thing is to learn the fundamental concepts and skills, then transfer them to your language of choice!

If you've ever wanted a systemic approach to testing your PHP applications, this video is the place to start.