wishful-thinking-programming

Wishful thinking programming is a development technique that helps overcome analysis paralysis by assuming ideal collaborators exist, allowing you to incrementally progress with TDD from well-understood parts outward using mocks.

To write tests with an unknown API shape, use mocks to define interfaces through actual usage, specifying what collaborators should do and letting those interactions accumulate into a concrete API structure as you code.

Yes, you can start coding with uncertainty by assuming ideal APIs already exist. This Skill enables developers to write tests and code against mocked services, defining library shapes incrementally as development progresses.

The best way to define an API interface through usage is to write tests assuming an ideal API exists, use mocks to specify collaborator behaviors, and let those mock interactions accumulate into a concrete interface definition.

Development gets blocked by unknowns because unclear library choices or undocumented API shapes cause analysis paralysis. This Skill addresses these blockers by letting you write code as if ideal collaborators already exist.

You should avoid using mocks to define interfaces when the API shapes or library choices are already fully documented, as this technique specifically addresses development blockers caused by unknowns and uncertainty.