Ask HN: Development Styles on Complex Tasks?

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Colour me curious as to how people generally approach a complex task once it's been designed. Do you right a lot of code and test closer to the end, or do you write smaller bits bits, test, iterate, and repeat. Which approach do you prefer and why? Does it differ with the size of the code base? For those of us who do a combination of both - how do you decide which is a better approach and when?

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I write more profusely when the nature of the work/design is familiar and when the tooling validates well-drafted coding through contracts, typing, syntax checking, autocomplete, live warnings, etc

I test sooner and more frequently when the work is unfamiliar or fragile/finicky, or when the tooling is more permissive or less capable.

In terms of process, complexity and size are largely eclipsed by the above factors. They matter more for how long the whole process takes.

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