Chapter 1. Introduction
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Chapter 1. Introduction

Test-driven development (TDD) really shook the world of software development from the very foundations, much more than any other extreme programming idea. Ten years ago it may have been some sort of mystical programming skill only known to true kung-fu masters. Today, it is becoming common sense, practised even by teams that do not follow any agile methodology.

Whether test-driven development should or should not be done is no longer an issue, but there is still an issue about how best to do it. This book is about doing test-driven development in a .NET environment better, with the help of two great open source tools: FIT and FitNesse. These tools allow us to apply TDD principles efficiently and improve communication with customers and business analysts. FIT and FitNesse help all team members build a shared understanding and effectively speak the same language.

Who should read this book?

This book is primarily aimed at .NET developers interested in starting with TDD and those who already practise unit testing and want to move beyond that into development driven by acceptance testing. It will also be useful to Java developers who are experienced with FitNesse, but wish to use it in a .NET environment. The .NET and Java implementations differ significantly in some ways, and this book points out all the important .NET-specific features. Java developers can also benefit from the third part of this book, where we discuss best practices for using FitNesse in a team environment and integrating FitNesse into the wider software development ecosystem, including web and database tests.

You will learn how to write and manage tests effectively, how to integrate FitNesse into your development process, and how to extend it to meet particular project needs. You will learn when to use FitNesse, when not to use it, and when to combine it with unit testing tools. You will also discover how to get customers to help out with testing and how to use FitNesse to make project requirements clearer.

[Note]Stuff to remember

  • FitNesse provides many shortcuts for efficient test writing.

  • No programming knowledge is required to write FIT tests.

  • The tabular view makes tests easy to write and results easy to read.

  • FIT requires very little extra code.

  • An online server enables the whole team to contribute to testing.

  • Documentation can be bundled easily with tests.

  • Customers, business analysts and managers can understand and verify FitNesse tests.

  • Tests can be written before any code.

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