The most important lesson to learn here is that all code, including tests, is a means to an end. A lot of people geek out about new programming languages, object oriented design, automated testing, TDD, XP, and various other methodologies du jour. If those things help you achieve your goal, that's great; but it's important to remember that they're (usually) not your goal in and of themselves.
I don't think jwz would say that unit testing is a bad idea. What he was trying to say when he dismissed them was that they were focused on making a browser, not on making a nice piece of code.
Similarly, Norvig was focused on solving sudokus, not on exploring methodologies that might be used to write the code which solves sudokus.
"TDD, XP, and various other methodologies du jour. If those things help you achieve your goal, that's great; but it's important to remember that they're (usually) not your goal in and of themselves."
When you are an agile "coach", Scrum Trainer etc, TDD, XP , Scrum etc are your goals!
I don't think jwz would say that unit testing is a bad idea. What he was trying to say when he dismissed them was that they were focused on making a browser, not on making a nice piece of code.
Similarly, Norvig was focused on solving sudokus, not on exploring methodologies that might be used to write the code which solves sudokus.