Test-driven development: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 06:15, 6 March 2004

Revision as of 05:50, 22 July 2004

Line 1:

'''Test-driven development''' (TDD) is a programming technique heavily emphasized in [[Extreme Programming]]. Essentially the technique involves writing your tests first then implementing the code to make them pass. The goal of TDD is to achieve rapid feedback and implements the "illustrate the main line" approach to constructing a program.

The '''test-driven development''' is the method of [[software development]] where tests specify interfaces of implementation and all code must pass the tests.

In order for TDD to work in practice, the system must be flexible enough to allow for automated [[unit-testing]] of code. These tests must also be simple enough to return a simple true or false evaluation of correctness. These properties allow for rapid feedback.

It is one of primary practices of [[Extreme Programming]].

TDD offers more than just simple validation of correctness, but can also drive the design of a program. By focusing on the testcases first, one must imagine how the functionality will be used by clients (in this case, the testcases). Therefore, the programmer is only concerned with the interface and not the implementation.

See also: [[Unit test]], [[JUnit]], [[Testing first]], [[test driven development]]

The power of TDD offers is the ability to take small steps when required. It allows a programmer to focus on the task at hand and often the first goal is to make the test pass. Exceptional cases and error handling are not considered initially. These extraneous circumstances are implemented after the main functionality has been achieved.

----

==External links==

*[http://www.parlezuml.com/tutorials/tdd_nunit/index_files/frame.htm Test-driven Development using NUnit] tutorial by [[Jason_Gorman]]

*[http://www.agiledata.org/essays/tdd.html An essay about TDD]

*[http://www.testdriven.com testdriven.com] on-line TDD community