Chinese Idiom Stories for Software Professionals: #16 Complementing Each Other (相辅相成）

Mastering two complementing skills makes impossible tasks much easier.

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This article is one of the “Chinese Idiom Stories for Software Professionals” series.

Story

Once upon a time, a man bragged about his bow: “There is no bow better than mine. It doesn’t need any arrow!”

Another man bragged about his arrow: “There is no arrow better than mine. It doesn’t need any bow!”

At that time, a man good at archery happened to pass by and heard their dialogue. He said: “You are both wrong. One cannot shoot an arrow without a bow; and without an arrow, how can one hit the target?”

Thereupon, the man good at archery asked them to take out their bow and arrow. Then he showed them how to shoot at the target with both the bow and arrow.

Now they understood: A bow won’t do without an arrow; nor an arrow without a bow.

Meaning

Complement each other, Complete each other.

Examples in IT

Test Automation and Continuous Testing are often considered two separate activities. One proof is that two different…