I have not seen tests in any code base I worked on in the past 20 years. I have noticed that there is some kind of sanctimonious demeanor to quite a few people that advocate for tests (on comment boards). I find the reactions to discussions on tests fascinating because it seems to elicit very strong opinions, sort of a "do you put your shopping cart back" kind of topic, but for programmers.
replyPeople who advocate “writing tests” never admit any of the costs and difficulties of automated output checking.
replyAs you change your codebase you will experience lots of “failures” that are not failures. You still have to burn your time investigating them.
Many checks will require elaborate mocking or other kinds of setup, that give lie to the claim that designing them is simple and straightforward.
over 20 years, many stacks, and same
reply> I have never worked on a project with any kind of meaningful test coverage
replyThat says more about you and the care you put into quality assurance than anything else, really.
Presumably you mean me, and every current and former team-member I've ever had? If so, you're talking about hundreds of engineers.
replyHave you ever worked at a place where you were put on an existing codebase, and that code has no tests? Have you ever worked at a place where, when you try to fix that, management tells you that they don't have the time to do so, they have to crank out new features?
replyIs ipsento606 working at such a place? I don't know, and neither do you. Why do you jump to the conclusion that it's their personal failing?