Slow and steady wins the race

Are you looking to refactor your existing codebase and don't have a clue where to start?

Start with a block of code, a big function, a class, anything that you just look at and think WTF, where do I start!.

Make it simpler, better, more modular. Apply today's best practices to the code, even if you don't think it will make much of a difference.

Rename variables to be more meaningful, extract some of the methods or if statements into separate functions.

And do the same thing the next day. And the day after that.

Pretty soon, you'll begin to realize major rewards from minor efforts. And, you'll also reach a point where major structural changes will both be possible and reasonable - and, if you've done your job right, not all that hard.

Slow and steady wins the software race.

Just Enough Production Functionality

The premise of TDD is to write tests that satisfy that a piece of functionality is working as expected.
Be this a unit of code (unit test) or a higher level feature (acceptance test).

A test should be written to fail. (Red)
Simply enough code should be written to make this test pass (Green)
Code should then be tidied up and optimised (Refactor).

This is inline with the Kent Beck model of Red, Green, Refactor for Test Driven Development.

ATDD is also called Behavior Driven Development

ATDD or Acceptance Test Driven Development is often referred to as BDD or Behaviour Driven Development.

This is the practice of writing high level acceptance tests, understandable by business and customer level, in satisfying that a piece of work does what it is supposed too. Focusing on the behaviour of the system from the customer or users perspective, allows the project to progress from a functionality and behaviour perspective, so that once the system does what it's meant to do its complete.

Acceptance tests will usually be ran at the project level, where it is possible to get an overview of the state of a project by running these, and see what percentage pass, determines what percentage of the project is complete.  Inline with these, developers may use separate Unit Tests inline with each acceptance test focusing on the units of code that make up an acceptance milestone.

Developer TDD is often Simply..

Do you often wonder where to start with TDD?  Is it more hassle than its worth?  Well yes and no, and I guess its down to how passionate you are about your code.

Check out http://www.phpunit.de  the industry standard for writing Unit Tests on your PHP code.

7 Ways Mobile Commerce will change retail

As the online and offline worlds converge, mobile commerce has the potential to eclipse desktop-based ecommerce and, perhaps, even replace a significant portion of traditional retail shopping.

Mobile-driven online sales in the U.S. are expected to reach $2.12 billion in 2013 and explode to about $62.2 billion in the next three years, according to an eMarketer report. With such phenomenal growth, some change is bound to come.

There are at least seven ways that mobile commerce is likely to change retail shopping and marketing. Online and multi-channel retailers should start preparing for these changes now.

1. Website Design Adapts

Online sellers are already working to build responsive sites that change size and layout in response to the user’s device or device orientation. By next year, responsive design will become imperative. Merchants that have not optimized for smartphones and tablets could see an impact to the bottom line.

2. Marketplaces Become More Important

Regardless of what mobile providers like AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, or Verizon would have you believe, mobile Internet connections can be disappointing. One possible side effect of relatively slow mobile connectivity is that mobile shoppers could be reluctant to open multiple browser windows as they search for products online.

As a result, mobile customers may be more likely to visit marketplaces like Amazon, Rakuten, or Newegg, where they can see products offered by several merchants and compare prices. What’s more, many of these services offer great apps that also makes shopper easier.

3. Shopping Becomes Ubiquitous

When a shopper is carrying a store in his pocket, he might just shop anywhere.

Mobile commerce will make shopping ubiquitous. A fellow riding the train home from work could be ordering jewelry for his wife or girlfriend. A 17-year-old girl at the beach might snap a photo of a friend’s swimsuit and use an app to find and order one just like it online. A sports fan sitting in a stadium might send a text to instantly order a new team jersey.

4. New Payment Services Will Emerge

Mobile commerce will accelerate the growth of new or improved payment solutions.

Manually typing a credit card number and a shipping address into a shopping cart form is, perhaps, the most painful part of shopping from a mobile device. This too will change.

Payment solutions like PayPal, Amazon Payments, or similar — and digital wallets like Google Wallet — will continue to grow and improve, offering mobile shoppers the option to pay with a single tap. Other new payment systems, including some from mobile service providers, will also emerge.

Once users become comfortable with these payment procedures, they will use them both online and at actual physical stores.

5. Mass Market Products Become Commodities

Mobile commerce makes pricing transparent. A shopper standing in Macy’s can compare the price of a blouse on any one of a dozen competitors’ websites, effectively transforming nearly every mass-marketed, mass-manufactured product into a commodity.

Brands will still do their best to enforce manufacturer-approved prices, but not many sellers will be getting a premium, which some boutique shops enjoyed before mobile’s advent.

6. Price Comparison Will Become Automated

Shoppers want to know that they are getting the best possible price before they make a purchase. Already there are dozens of mobile apps that help shoppers make price comparisons. Look for future applications to use information about a person’s tastes or buying habits to automate price comparison.

Shoppers will know which stores offer the best combination of price and shipping costs just by building a wishlist or snapping a photo of a product or barcode.

7. Product Reviews Will Become Centralized

After price comparisons, mobile shoppers are likely to look for user reviews before making a buying decision regardless of whether they are planning to order online or pick up an item from a brick-and-mortar store.

Look for review consolidators to emerge, offering shoppers the option to see product or vendor reviews from a number of sources through a single interface, probably an app.

Source: http://www.practicalecommerce.com/articles/3965-7-Ways-Mobile-Commerce-Will-Change-Retail