As developers, we often hear that tests are important. Automated testing minimizes the number of bugs released to production, helps prevent regression, improves code quality, supplements documentation, and makes code reviews easier. In short, tests save businesses money by increasing system uptime and keeping developers working on new features instead of fighting fires. While software testing has been around for about as long as software has, I would argue that testing is especially important (and unfortunately more challenging) in modern distributed software systems.
“Distributed software” refers to any software that is not run entirely on one computer. Almost all web applications are distributed software as they rely on applications on other servers (eg: remote data stores, internal REST APIs, third-party APIs, content delivery networks, etc.), and most mobile and desktop applications are as well. Distributed software presents new challenges and requires a thoughtful approach to testing.
I’ll be presenting a strategy for testing distributed systems at this year’s API Strategy & Practice Conference. If you’re interested in learning more about the topic of testing distributed software, or you have questions, you can find me at the conference, or anytime on Twitter.
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