Cleaner Unit Testing with SIFERS

Unit testing can be hard. It’s made even harder when tests share variables and state leaks between tests. Using SIFERS or Simple Injectable Functions Explicitly Returning State, we can create a setup function that allows us to manage the state of each individual test without worrying about previous tests causing issues. In this talk we will go over the theory behind SIFERS testing, create a few examples to illustrate the concept, and discuss how to start implementing SIFERS in your application. The concepts in this talk are framework agnostic and can be applied to any unit test suite without adding additional app dependencies.

You're Going to Need a Test for That

So you’ve written some code. That’s great! You’re probably going to want to test it. But what kinds of tests are useful? Should you be writing unit tests? End to end tests? Component tests? All of the above? The testing landscape in javascript applications keeps changing. Determining a testing strategy and defining how and where to write tests can be a real challenge for teams. With automated CICD pipelines and the approval process for publishing mobile applications, it is more important than ever to catch regressions before they are released to production and the best way to do that is with robust test suites. In this talk, we will cover what types of testing are available, what tools exist and how to use them, what testing strategies exist, and how your team might be able to decide the testing boundaries of your applications.

Stop Micromanaging State and Start Being Reactive

Is your component full of local properties to hide and show panels? Do you need to call ‘refresh’ functions to make sure your state is up to date? Then you might be micromanaging your state. The good news is there is an easier way! In this talk we will cover some common micromanagemt.

Reactive Patterns For Angular

Have you ever found yourself making yet another component property just to hold state between user interactions? Do you wonder how you can even begin to refactor that three thousand line component? Well chances are you could use a little reactivity in your application. In this talk we will learn how to think about our components from a more reactive mindset. Then we will cover some reactive patterns you can start using today to make coding your Angular application faster, cleaner, and less bug prone. Whether you are working on a brand new component or desperately trying to refactor an existing disaster, there will be something for you in this talk.

Intro to Angular Workshop

Maybe you have never written an Angular app before, maybe you are a little rusty, whatever the reason, by the end of this workshop, you will have a fully functional Angular application and a deeper understanding of how Angular works. We will cover how to use the Angular CLI to create a new application, how angular apps are structured, how Angular change detection works, and various ways to manage state. We will focus on building apps with a reactive mindset and actually testing the code that we write. By the end of the day, you will have a better understanding of how Angular works and valuable skills that you can take with you to any team.

Code Hoarders: Tackling Tech Debt

It has happened to a lot of us. We join a new team, pull the code, and find a heaping steaming pile of complicated spaghetti code. When we look at the backlog, bug tickets are piling up and the product team is asking for new features. Examining the code further reveals few valuable unit tests and all integration testing is being manually performed by a separate team several time zones away. Developing in this code base is going to be risky and difficult.

So what can we do next? In this talk I offer some tried and true advice for how to begin cleaning up technical debt, how to strategize where to start building up robust test suites and how to implement guard rails to prevent further build up of code that does not meet your team’s coding standards. We will discuss how to create a shared understanding of code excellence amongst your teams, how to enforce good coding practices, and which tools we can leverage to enforce these standards. We will cover how to develop strategies that can be built into our daily coding practices that will intentionally reduce technical debt. And finally, we will discuss how to talk about technical debt with non-technical leaders and how to provide tangible metrics to help prove the value of reducing tech debt in our applications to both developers and end users.

Angular Plus Show Podcast Recording