---
title: Automated tests prevent you from adding regressions
date: 2024-02-02
permalink: daily/2024/02/02/automated-tests-prevent-you-from-adding-regressions
snippet: |
  Having automated tests recently saved me from adding a regression to a project.
tags:
  - software-development
  - automated-testing
  - test-driven-development
---

Continuing from [my last few emails]({{site.url}}/archive/2024/01/30/tdd-doesnt-mean-you-know-everything-upfront), as well as adding the new use case more easily and quicker, having automated tests also saved me from adding a regression into the code I was changing.

I'd written a condition in the query to ensure only results that started with the search term.

Initially, I removed it, but then the tests failed.

This reminded me why I'd written the condition that way, and I was able to re-add my fix differently.

Without the tests, I'd likely have removed it and introduced a regression.

Whilst fixing a bug, I'd have introduced a different bug.

My tests saved me from doing that and I was able to rectify it quickly before pushing to CI or the staging environment.