-- Shakespeare, Richard III
Act IV, Scene IV, Line 50
Test Driven Development
I like to think of myself as a professional in the field of software development as such one of the practices I do is Test Driven Development (TDD). The way that TDD works is that you write a failing test, then write just enough code to make it pass, next refactor your code, and finally repeat by writing another failing test.
The key is starting with a failing test. Why a failing test? If the test is failing you know it is actually testing something. When you write a test after the code, you do not know if the test is actually testing the code in the way you expect it to. Early in my career I fell into the test after trap. I got burned by this process and am now a firm believer in Test First.
One of the side effects of the TDD process is that you have lot of failing unit tests which cause some type of beeping noise in most testing frameworks. This beeping noise is usually not an issue at work, but at home this can cause issues.
Mr. Jack
Anyone that knows me, knows that I have a loving Rat Terrier named Jack.
Mr. Jack was a rescue dog from Heartland Animal Shelter in Northbrook, Illinois. Jack is a great dog but dislikes beeping noises. What is a TDDer to do?
Turning the Beep Off in Windows
Luckily there is a way to turn the beeping noise off in the Windows Console (I've been using Windows again after using Linux for many years but I have a new Mac on the way so please do not judge me too badly).
c:\>net stop beep
The Beep service was stopped successfully.
This will stop the console from beep for this session. To re-enable the beeping use: net start beep.
c:\>net start beep
The Beep service was started successfully.
As one would guess this answer was found on SuperUser (a StackExchange site).
Great Animals Need Your Help
Why did I write this blog? One reason was to be able to look this command up at a later time. Yes, I use my own blog post to remind myself, to my knowledge this is common among authors of all types.Another reason to write a post like this is to let people know that there are great animals available at your local animal shelter. For reasons beyond their own control many animals find themselves at shelters. Often these animals are well behaved and are loving but just need a new place and family to call home. If you are looking to add an animal to your life look to your local shelter first.
