IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jftint/v3y2011i4p281-297d15228.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Test Driven Development: Advancing Knowledge by Conjecture and Confirmation

Author

Listed:
  • David Parsons

    (Institute of Information and Mathematical Sciences, Albany Campus, Massey University, Private Bag 102-904 North Shore Mail Centre, Auckland, New Zealand)

  • Ramesh Lal

    (Institute of Information and Mathematical Sciences, Albany Campus, Massey University, Private Bag 102-904 North Shore Mail Centre, Auckland, New Zealand)

  • Manfred Lange

    (Institute of Information and Mathematical Sciences, Albany Campus, Massey University, Private Bag 102-904 North Shore Mail Centre, Auckland, New Zealand)

Abstract

Test Driven Development (TDD) is a critical agile software development practice that supports innovation in short development cycles. However, TDD is one of the most challenging agile practices to adopt because it requires changes to work practices and skill sets. It is therefore important to gain an understanding of TDD through the experiences of those who have successfully adopted this practice. We collaborated with an agile team to provide this experience report on their adoption of TDD, using observations and interviews within the product development environment. This article highlights a number of practices that underlie successful development with TDD. To provide a theoretical perspective that can help to explain how TDD supports a positive philosophy of software development, we have revised Northover et al .’s conceptual framework, which is based on a four stage model of agile development, to reinterpret Popper’s theory of conjecture and falsification in the context of agile testing strategies. As a result of our findings, we propose an analytical model for TDD in agile software development which provides a theoretical basis for further investigations into the role of TDD and related practices.

Suggested Citation

  • David Parsons & Ramesh Lal & Manfred Lange, 2011. "Test Driven Development: Advancing Knowledge by Conjecture and Confirmation," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 3(4), pages 1-17, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jftint:v:3:y:2011:i:4:p:281-297:d:15228
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/3/4/281/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/3/4/281/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jftint:v:3:y:2011:i:4:p:281-297:d:15228. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.