Why CRUD might be what they want, but may not be what they need | Ian Cooper

Why CRUD might be what they want, but may not be what they need | Ian Cooper

The Rolling Stones once sung:

“You can’t always get what you want, But if you try sometimes, well you just might find, You get what you need”

I think the same is true of CRUD. Our users seem to ask for it and we blindly agree to their wishes and build it; however, its regularly not what they need.

Role Object Pattern

Role Object Pattern

Adapt an object to different client's needs through transparently attached role objects, each one representing a role the object has to play in that client's context. The object manages its role set dynamically. By representing roles as individual objects, different contexts are kept separate and system configuration is simplified.

Using the Builder Pattern to Create Data Access Layer Integration Tests | Falconer Development LLC

Using the Builder Pattern to Create Data Access Layer Integration Tests | Falconer Development LLC

Automated testing is a good software engineering principle regardless of which development management process being used, Scrum, TDD, XP, etc. You know all about the benefits of unit-testing. It will reduce the number of defects, catch bugs earlier, unicorns will manifest themselves and bring you a beer. Great! But how do you start?

There are various opinions on how to test your Data Access Layer (DAL). Some would argue that it makes sense to write tests that run against an actual database. Others will argue that DAL tests should be mocked. While, I’ve talked previously about techniques for unit-testing, advocating, pleading, begging for the usage of mocked dependencies (using a mocking framework). When it comes to testing the DAL, this is where I make an exception to that guidance.

Architecting in the pit of doom: The evils of the repository abstraction layer

Architecting in the pit of doom: The evils of the repository abstraction layer

The whole purpose of a repository is to provide an in memory collection interface to a data source, but that pattern was established at a time where the newest thing on the block was raw SQL calls. Consider what NHibernate is doing, and you can see that here, one implementation of an in memory collection interface on top of a data store is wrapped in another, and it does nothing for us except add additional code and complexity.

P of EAA: Unit of Work

P of EAA: Unit of Work

P of EAA: Repository

P of EAA: Repository