Software testing is one of the main ingredients for a software development project. By no means can organizations skip testing, as doing so can have severe consequences for the product and business. So the main question revolves around, when should testers test an application? Logically, it should be tested once a project is complete. However, there are limitations to testing that include rigid design issues, if developers write the code first and test its implementation later. Hence, we have found a way to address these challenges, which is known as test driven development (TDD). 

What is the TDD Approach?

TDD is an approach where software components are tested throughout the development process. It is a software development technique where testing is performed in small units. It adheres to the ‘test-first’ approach which means tests are written before implementation of the code. It works as a design strategy because the test is written first, and the interface of a unit to be tested is used before its existence. Thus, testers provide feedback to the developers about the usability of the design too early in the development process. They use test management tools to organize all their testing tasks and schedules. 

TDD has three main principles which are mentioned below:

1. Developers cannot write a production code unless their purpose is to pass a failing unit test.
2. Testers cannot write more of a unit test than it is necessary to fail. The minimal code is required so that the unit test can be completed successfully.
3. It is also known as a red-green-refactor cycle – where a cycle is performed once for each written unit test. 

Achieving Quality with TDD

Following the TDD approach may sound difficult to follow, but with some extra effort you can definitely earn a lot of benefits to your project. Business owners who want to focus on quality and assurance, use data driven testing along with test management tools. And it is quite obvious that with continuous testing, QA teams can be ahead from the first line of code, bugs and unexpected events.
It is a common understanding that the later you find a bug in the software development process, the more the bug will cost you. But TDD allows teams to detect bugs quickly and resolve them immediately. Thus, reducing the subsequent costs of debugging if the errors were discovered later. It also helps in decreasing the costs associated with defect management. TDD emphasized that TDD is a great opportunity to shorten the time to markets and costs that are required to learn the user behavior. Although testers are equipped with test management tools, TDD also works as a tool to improve their documentation. With the help of written tests, developers can improve their code. Most of the developers believe that tests serve as a communication bridge between a client’s vision and how the actual software product should be like.