Beautiful Testing

Chapter 14. Test-Driven Development: Driving New Standards of Beauty

Jennitta Andrea

Beauty As Proportion and Balance

The definition of beauty is subjective, contextual, and ever-changing. Throughout history, groups develop their own qualitative and quantitative standards for beauty, guided by a complex set of forces, including economy, geography, and culture. Despite this diversity, there is notable consistency in the fundamental elements of physical beauty. One common element is proportion. A recurring ratio of 1:1.618—the divine proportion—is found in faces universally judged as beautiful, and occurs repeatedly throughout the natural world (Huntley 1970). There appears to be a generalized attraction to things that are proportional, unified, balanced, coherent, and harmonious.

Humans are naturally inclined to reestablish harmony when the status quo is disrupted. The Diderot Effect (McCracken 1988) describes the domino effect of change triggered by the introduction of an inconsistency, such as when French philosopher Denis Diderot received the gift of a new robe. The elegant red robe clashed with his humble, cluttered office, causing him to completely redecorate until the office matched the elegance of the robe.

These two perspectives on beauty—proportion and balance—can be applied to software methods. A software method is a collection of elements: activities, practices, roles, tools, and work products. A beautiful software method unifies the proportion of the elements through ...