In Praise of Non-Fixtured Data
This talk explores why fixtures are mostly bad, what can be done to “fix” the unmanageable miscreant that fixtures have evolved into, and cross-examines the new breed of data generators.
First, you have to acknowledge that there is a problem with fixtures. You just don’t know it. I’ll show you why you are wrong. If you already want to stab fixtures in the eye socket with a rusty spoon I’m not talking to you.
Second, we will investigate patterns of data generation. These make up the foundation of the libraries examined in the third part of the talk. And finally there will be a fixture replacement shoot-out so to speak. From “roll your own” data generators to the more popular exemplar libraries like Object Daddy, Factory Girl and Machinist, we will decide which one best remedies the fixtures fiasco.
Note: This talk will be given at Scotland On Rails in case O’Reilly does or does not want overlap with regional conferences.
People planning to attend this session also want to see:
Kevin Barnes
OG Consulting
Kevin R. Barnes OG Consulting, Inc.
Kevin is a founder and software developer for the boutique software consultancy OG Consulting. He and his partners specialize in Ruby and Ruby on Rails systems with an ever-present focus on the tenets of Domain Driven Design. Over Kevin’s 10 years in the software field he has worked with companies large and small, from the famed Fortune 50 to the nouveau fashionable Fortune 5 million.
In the summer of 2004, he happened upon the enlightened Dave Thomas at a No Fluff, Just Stuff conference who bellowed a blasphemous recommendation, “Try a new language: Like Ruby.” Kevin fell fast for the sleek and sexy language. And soon after chose Ruby on Rails as his web mistress over the Java stack spinster he hesitantly shacked up with years before. Along with his two colleagues, Kevin spoke at RailsConf 2008 on the eccentricities of the enterprise.
Kevin lives and works in Nashville, TN.
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Comments
Day or so? Slides, blog post, anything?
Hey Kevin – you planning to post slides?
I will be posting some technical examples on our blog blog.ogtastic.com in the next day or so showing some more detailed examples of model associations and set up for both Object Daddy and Factory Girl. If I have more time I’ll post examples from some of the other libraries as well. I appreciate the feedback.
I felt that he knew what he wanted to say, but no practical data beyond “fixtures suck” was given at a half hour in. 5 minutes of quick points on why they sucked and 45 minutes on how else to insert test data would have been productive.
A faster paced presentation would have been better
Too much time explaining why fixtures are bad.
Way too long (almost 15 min) to get to the meat of the talk. Needs to have more generator examples sooner—it should be expected that the attendees of a talk with this title will already have used fixtures and are seeking something better.
Very slow.