Test Driven Development: By Example (Addison-Wesley Signature Series)
by Kent Beck

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Book Reviews of Test Driven Development: By Example (Addison-Wesley Signature Series)

Book Review: Test driven development by example
Summary: 5 Stars

The concepts will be familiar to anyone with a passing knowledge of extreme programming (XP), although it isn't necessary to use XP to use test-driven development. The concepts themselves are both simple and elegant, and therefore easy to understand. The catch is that to put the concepts into practice requires a great deal of conscious effort and self discipline. Believing in TDD is not enough, you really have to live it!

I'm at the believing stage myself. I have used it on occasions when stuck on difficult problems and it really does work, although I haven't yet cultivated the patience to use it all the time. Some of the problems that I've come across in practice are addressed here (e.g. use of mock objects instead of a database/remote server/flaky module).

The book is written in a very easy-to-read style, and a very even tempo. It's aimed at an intermediate level audience, the main problem that a beginner is likely to have is not in understanding how, but why.

There are a few little quibbles: most of the code is in Java, but in the middle of the book the author switches to Python, before mercifully switching back again to finish. I also noticed that one of the tasks that had been crossed off as done was deliberately broken to move forward, without being uncrossed. This looks accidental, but it gnawed at me as I read on. Minor flaws in a well written book.

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