I understand and I agree with the author points, specially looking to distance yourself from the dependencies these systems are usually entangled with, however:
>But the code examples are in Java and C++ and I do python/JavaScript/ruby/
The problem with real legacy code is that sometimes it's not even in those languages. It's VB.NET, COBOL, AS400, BASIC, FORTRAN...and these may not have a chance to "wrap around your class", or "think about all the ORM code that you use". None! I use none of that!. And I can't even call any tests because I can't extend a non existant class, there's no objects in here!.
The author also says:
>You need feedback. Automated feedback is the best. Thus, this is the first thing you need to do: write the tests.
I don't need automated feedback. I need to untangle this deep business layer that everything is wrapped around in a 40 years old codebase, with practically no documentation and having to modify one of the core systems of the company. Sometimes I can't even trust the feedback the program outputs. In this kind of scenarios where the code is so messy and limited by technical factors, the best approach I have found is to debug. And that's it. Follow the trail, find the "seam", and then start your kingdom in the little space you can. Because if you tell your boss that you are implementing Unit tests in a 40 years old codebase, the first question he is gonna hit you with is "Why?", and the article doesn't give any compelling argument to answer this.
Yes, the final say is always on the particular custom where the goods will get the clearance, so they will call the shots on the way the procedure should be done.
The IT system in place is just there to accommodate how customs should proceed, so if they have different ways to solve the problem, the customs officer will just find the one he's more used to.
But you're right that if there's a HSCode for something built, furniture vs wood for example, then the more "accurate" should be used, as they will have different tariffs too.
They can, the problem is that if you declare this as different parts then you will have to pay taxes accordingly to the chosen HSCode for each one in the declaration.
If you search for the HSCODE you will find that offshore oil and natural gas drilling and production platforms have their own, 8431434000, which means if you declare only this one you will pay no taxes.
>your grandparents probably read for entertainment instead of tiktok
I strongly disagree. Reading books as activity, maybe. It depends on the person too. But reading itself? In this time and age, we are constantly reading, either in your phone ( even most tiktok videos these days have subs for everything ), browsing the web is a constant reading activity, work/email/essays/whatsapp/telegram, completely outweights the amount of text we read/write now comparing it with our older generation.
>But the code examples are in Java and C++ and I do python/JavaScript/ruby/
The problem with real legacy code is that sometimes it's not even in those languages. It's VB.NET, COBOL, AS400, BASIC, FORTRAN...and these may not have a chance to "wrap around your class", or "think about all the ORM code that you use". None! I use none of that!. And I can't even call any tests because I can't extend a non existant class, there's no objects in here!.
The author also says:
>You need feedback. Automated feedback is the best. Thus, this is the first thing you need to do: write the tests.
I don't need automated feedback. I need to untangle this deep business layer that everything is wrapped around in a 40 years old codebase, with practically no documentation and having to modify one of the core systems of the company. Sometimes I can't even trust the feedback the program outputs. In this kind of scenarios where the code is so messy and limited by technical factors, the best approach I have found is to debug. And that's it. Follow the trail, find the "seam", and then start your kingdom in the little space you can. Because if you tell your boss that you are implementing Unit tests in a 40 years old codebase, the first question he is gonna hit you with is "Why?", and the article doesn't give any compelling argument to answer this.