On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 04:23:46PM +0000, Antti Kantee wrote:

> Be forewarned, wireless devices are quite complex to handle.  That repo 
> contains >100k lines of code.  While all of it may not be relevant, if 
> we assume 10% of the code is relevant and that you can produce 100 lines 
> of bugfree code every day, the driver will take 100 days to complete.

I should have mentioned that I've got plenty of free time and I'm
looking to learn a lot. My not-based-on-anything assumption was
that I'd be spending several months on this. So that sounds fine.

> > The possible saving grace of this idea is that _maybe_ I could:
> >
> > * Write meaningful userland tests for my device
> > * Watch them fail
> > * Understand (relatively) quickly what I'm currently being stupid about
> > * Flail around (relatively) harmlessly while I figure things out
> > * Feel a bit less stupid, briefly, with each new passing test
> > * Notice (relatively) quickly when I've broken something
> > * Thereby write a working driver in bounded time
> 
> As far as I'm aware, apart from s/userland//, and hence s/relatively/& 
> non-/, that's how everyone does it.

I should have specified _automated_ tests. Are most people who write
device drivers really doing Test-Driven Development -- defining
each new intended behavior as a small and correctly failing test,
then doing just enough to make the next test pass, then cleaning
up a bit? With fine-grained tests, one or two new ones at a time,
over and over and over? I've been assuming otherwise, because the
fast feedback of TDD is usually too hard to arrange for in systems
programming.

Enter rump. TDD is my favorite technique for efficiently learning
what to do, how to do it, and whether I've done it -- in application
development. Can I effectively apply TDD in a context where (1)
most people don't currently apply it and (2) my level of ignorance
is far more staggering than usual? My hypothesis is that with rump,
the answer becomes yes. A major selling point, IMO, if true.

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