TDD and Software Testers
According to Fowler’s website, part 3 of the series covers
…the various ways in which we get feedback while programming and the role of QA in providing feedback to developers.
The whole series is worth a watch but if you are just interested in TDD and the role it plays when you have software testers (or QA), watch it here:
The three people involved with it have have varying experiences with Fowler having worked for many years with software testers in enterprise software, Beck now working at Facebook where they have few testers (and his own experience with dysfunctional QA) and DHH’s experience running Basecamp. It’s an interesting and relevant discussion because it’s coming from a programmers point of view (programmer testing). My view says testing is an investigation designed to reveal information about a product. Beck frames it as feedback that builds confidence in the code. I think both views of the software are valuable and those differences in techniques and approaches yield very different ways of viewing quality.
The title “TDD is dead” reminds me of the saying “Test is dead”. Neither of those titles are accurate (they are catchy) but understanding the differences in views can help us when talking to stakeholders who have similar feelings or views.