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What A Test Plan Is And Why Every Code Review Needs One

Core points:

  • Actually show that your code works when you submit your code for review. You do this with something called a "test plan".
  • Be visual if you can. The best thing to attach is a video or a .gif. A step down is attaching a screenshot.
    • If you're working on APIs, you can attach a screenshot of a curl or Postman
    • Whatever you're doing to verify that your code works, capture that in your test plan
  • Benefits of having a test plan:
    • Basic trust token showing your teammates that your code works, at least in the core flow
    • Turns your code review into a much more informative and self-documented piece of codebase history
    • Makes it far easier for people not to break whatever is in your code review when they work with it in the future
  • Show a repeatable way to test your change
    • If you're adding automated tests, include the command to run it
    • With a video, show the full process of triggering the flow altered by the commit (e.g. tapping into a certain screen on a website)

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