Avoid Unnecessary Builds with Jenkins, Maven and SVN

Sooner or later your CI server will became very busy, and your frustration will grow because of increasing wait time for each build. One thing you can do to improve the situation is to avoid running jobs when there is no need to do so.

I use Jenkins + Maven + SVN in this example, but you can use this "tricks" also when using different technologies - Gradle, Git etc.

 

Bad Tests, Good Tests - new book available!

I'm happy to announce the arrival of my new book! :) It is called "Bad Tests, Good Tests" and is all about writing high-quality tests.

 

Bad Tests, Good Tests - it is coming!

I can't remember when it started but since some time I was collecting "interesting" pieces of test code. By "interesting" I mean the ones that could be well improved. After some time I noticed there are some (anti)patterns, some typical bugs, or rather imperfections which I observe frequently when reviewing test code.

I try to write my tests so they fulfil some basic requirements. They should verify some important part of the system. They should survive refactorings. They should be readable, clear and concise, so you can read them like documentation. They should be fast.

 

Ishikawa Diagram

Today I have learnt about Ishikawa diagram (AKA fishbone diagrams, herringbone diagrams, cause-and-effect diagrams, or Fishikawa). And I started to wonder whether it makes sense to use it to diagnose the issues related to the production of software. (I will not explain Ishikawa diagram in this post, so please have a look at Wikipedia description if it does not ring any bells for you).

 

From AsciiDoc/DocBook to PDF, ePub and mobi - part 4

Recently I have learned one (very useful!) trick, that I wanted to share with you. It occurred that it is very simple to create PDF files with custom embedded fonts.

 

Test Doubles or Test Data Builders?

One of my readers asked a question whether he should rather use test doubles (mocks) or Test Data Builders to create objects (collaborators) for testing purposes. I've decided to write down some thoughts in form of this blog post. I hope it makes things more clear.

 

DevFest Vienna 2013 - Bad Tests, Good Tests talk - slides

Slides from my recent talk at DevFest Vienna 2013. Once again thanks to all who attended (and endured the whole hour!) ;)

 

Piwik

Today I left Google Analytics and moved to Piwik. This blogs describes some of my first experiences with Piwik.

 

Sayonara Google

Some time ago I have decided to stop using services offered by Google. This is not because I'm disappointed with their quality or features!. It is because the latest Snowden/PRISM/NSA revelations and also due to the feeling that big companies (not only Google) are misusing my private data.

 

From AsciiDoc/DocBook to PDF, ePub and mobi - part 3

We already know how to generate HTML, TXT and PDF, but since everyone is using smartphones/tablets nowadays we need to go mobile. This time we will look into ePub and mobi (Kindle) formats.

 

 
 
 
This used to be my blog. I moved to http://tomek.kaczanowscy.pl long time ago.

 
 
 

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