You are so right about debt. I saw this video on YouTube, it is explaining about how mone is created by banks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50bWUrKAbwU

It is so interesting, expecially the way that the system NEEDS people to go bankrupt to keep working.

Let’s say you don’t write tests at all, then the reduction of debt through refactoring can be scary and time consuming, since you want to make sure you haven’t introduced bugs or broken existing functionality.

Writing tests after the fact is good, it provides you that safety net needed to refactor in the future. This is one way to pay off some of your debt. However it can be “expensive” as you try to figure out the best way to test methods, try to test all the code paths, and so on.

But writing tests before writing code is a great way to minimize the amount of debt in the first place. By writing *just enough* code to pass each test, and no more, you end up with tests covering all your code paths. Your resulting code is easy to test (since testing was considered from the beginning). Now you can refactor quickly and aggressively with confidence, paying back that debt much quicker with minimal interest

I think that financially as well as culturally, Americans have a serious problem with debt. Quick fixes, short-term solutions, paying later vs. saving earlier are all major issues that get us into big trouble.

Heather always gets questions in her water aerobics class like “How can I get rid of the flab on my arms?” Besides the fact that losing weight can’t be directed to one part of the body, what her students are really asking is “How can I get a quick fix to accomplish what I want without patience and hard work?” In that case, debt is driving instead of walking, eating fast food instead of healthy food, staying home to watch TV instead of working out, and especially injuring yourself while trying to take on more than you can handle while working out.