Preface

Unit tests and integration tests are designed to serve two different purposes. They are not meant to substitute each other, and each type has a specific focus. However, developers tend to struggle to determine the border that seperates unit tests and integration tests as there is no set hard limit on either one.

Where I’ve Been, and Where I’m Heading

I took somewhat of an unplanned hiatus from working on No Mans Blocks. Initially, I took a break because I wanted to pursue writing a server for a Reddit clone. It wasn’t until about two months in that I realized just how over scoped the project was and how long it would take to finish. While I may not have much to show for this time, it did open my eyes up to some of the common software-architecture patterns, and how to utilize these patterns to better organize my projects. During my adventure I also picked up TypeScript and dived into the intriguing world of NodeJS.

It’s quite typical for a Domain Driven Design (DDD) project to need validation for it’s domain models. While it may be sufficient to solve this by adding an IsValid() method to each model, this can cause confusion for the developer by cluttering the model class, and/or by requiring the IsValid() method to be generalized that it covers a large range of validation rules for any situation that may arise. Let’s work with an example.

This post is the second part in my mini-series of restoring my old xj cherokee. If your interested, check out my attempt at saving the rusty roof.

Like most xjs out there, especially those in the rustier parts of the US, the rocker panels needed some love. I never really captured a good before shot of the rust on the passenger side rocker. It was roughly 9" in length and about 3" wide. I finally decided it was time to fix it when I managed to puncture a hole in it using my key. (You can even see the hole in the picture if you look close).

I’m a big fan of older vehicles. I just love the simplicity of them and how easy they are to work on them. Plus the cost of parts really can’t be beat. Since my civic is far from snow worthy I also own a 2000 Jeep Cherokee. It may not be the prettiest vehicle out there but it’s never let me down, and has successfully traveled 20,000 miles in it’s first year of owner ship with a couple road trips ranging in the 800-1000 mile range.

Ten months of work finally pays off

I enjoy working on my own vehicles but by far the best part is finishing up. While it took longer than I hoped, and the deadlines I kept setting for myself came and went I can say it was worth the wait. Today was the second day of driving, and started off with topping off the tank. It hadn’t been gassed up since last September and was pretty much on E.

Getting ready for the test drive

While the car may not be on the road yet, it’s come quite a bit closer to getting there. Lately I’ve been working on fixing everything that was sub-optimally done previously by me. One of the things I didn’t do quite right was the clutch pedal pin. Since the car was an automatic initially, I had to source out some parts for the swap. I ended up buying just a generic pin for the clutch master cylinder to hook it to the clutch pedal. Interestingly enough the metal was fairly soft as the pedal has worn a fairly noticable grove into the pin itself.

Creating Time (literally!)

I have a knack for forgetting what I’ve managed to accomplish on the game during the week. To try to overcome this so I have updates I can post on it, I’ve started writing down each accomplishment on a sticky note.

Finishing things up

With the weather warming up it’s been making me miss the civic quite a bit. While it may not be the fastest car out there I do enjoy riving it. I had the chance to work on it a bit more this weekend. To get myself motivated I started by getting the radiator mounted in place. After that I wired up the charge harness.

Implementing a Thread-Safe Queue

One of the most useful data structures when it comes to multi-threading is the queue. However, queues in c# aren’t thread-safe by default. Thankfully it’s easy enough to implement your own as we will do today. Let’s start by defining our class.