teraisa / udacity-full-stack

Full Stack Class for Github

Welcome to Udacity's Full Stack Developer Class! (June 2017)

This will introduce you to various aspects of programming that you will need to know to be a web developer. There are a few things that will be introduced. The first is that PHP will be used as an alternative language to introduce you to more traditional programming concepts. Python is a great language, but it handles certain things differently than most languages, (Java, C++, etc.).

The second is that there will be a focus on unit tests and testing principles in general. Tests are ways of verifying that code works the way that you expect. There are numerous benefits to a good testing strategy.

1. Prevents bugs from appearing during a release. (Known as regression bugs.)
2. Creates a form of documentation that developers can read easily. In fact, the test code should be written as well, if not better, than the source code.
3. Requires a developer to understand how to write clean code. The easier code is to test, the cleaner it is. Code that is difficult to test is known as a code smell, a sign that the code needs to be improved.
4. Gives confidence during refactoring. Refactoring is the process of improving code quality while not changing functionality.