Where did you learn to unit test? How did you learn?

[Nik H.]

Christopher Blunck wrote:
 > Nik - I see you post from a .ch domain.  Are you referring to Swiss
 > universities?

Yes (the term "college" doesn't really exist in German, so all colleges 
are just "universities" here). I can only speak about the one I'm 
attending (University of Berne). From what I hear about other Swiss 
universites they're a bit more traditional in this respect, particulary 
the heavy-weight ones in Zurich and Lausanne. But there always seems to 
be some professor pushing agile concepts.

 > Such a subtle yet potent point.  If I knew how to unit test while in
 > college, I'd kick the living crap out of every computer science
 > project I was ever handed.

Unit testing is not the silver bullet, you know? <wink> But you're 
right, I think most people profit from it. Learning to program is still 
*hard* though for those who've never done it before. One problem is that 
you need a good object-oriented design (ie small methods) for unit tests 
to be effective. Object-oriented design isn't exactly an easy topic for 
beginners neither.

 >>I read some accounts on universities still teaching the waterfall model
 >>and stuff. So this post is meant as a heads up. There might be a new
 >>generation of programmers with mad unit testing skills on the rise. 
<wink>
 >
 >
 > Can't wait for you all to get on the market.  ;-)

Some more patience needed, we've got at least another 3 years ahead of 
us ...

Nik