An External Replication on the Effects of Test-driven Development [pdf]

Re:An External Replication on the Effects of Test-driven Dev... by ericdykstra on Wednesday October 19, 2016 @03:42AM (#12741855)

I really don't believe any study or meta-study could come close to being able to suss out the nuance of when TDD may provide an advantage and when it doesn't.

I'd rather just trust programmers to consider what approach works best for their problem and mindset and go from there.

I personally don't TDD most things, but it's a tool I have available and I bring it out when a situation arises.

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Re:An External Replication on the Effects of Test-driven Dev... by raverbashing on Wednesday October 19, 2016 @04:17AM (#12742018)

Well, with TDD you waste time writing red tests first, then with tests that "just pass" and finally make the thing as it is supposed to be

I find it surprising that's not slower than Test-Last (maybe if you really leave it for last then you'll need some time to fit your functions to your test)

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Re:An External Replication on the Effects of Test-driven Dev... by dllthomas on Wednesday October 19, 2016 @12:41PM (#12745324)

I think we could, but it'd be very expensive (multiple large and careful studies) and only possibly worth it.

> I'd rather just trust programmers to consider what approach works best for their problem and mindset and go from there.

People are often surprisingly good at fooling themselves. I'd rather have actual empirical validation. And also a pony.

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