TDD is the acronym for Test-Driven Development. It is a much-debated topic in today’s time. Developers find it confusing whether to practice TDD or to avoid it, what are its benefits, and much more.
In simple words, TDD is a process that is used by many developers for writing qualitative code. Developers use TDD for creating software with amazing quality and avoidable future errors. Despite it being popular, many developers skip using the TDD process because they think it’s complicated.
The biggest misconception about TDD is that it’s complex. No doubt it is difficult, but when TDD is misunderstood, it becomes more difficult to implement. So, in this article, we will learn more about TDD in .NET and what are its advantages.
Let’s dive in!
What is TDD (Test-Driven Development)?
TDD or Test-Driven Development is a project development methodology. Here the developer starts to create software using unit tests rather than traditional processes where a software is made and only in the end are the tests made to ensure quick and easy implementation.
TDD was published as one of the parts of a software design process called XP (Extreme Programming) which is a part of Agile software development.
Pros of Test-Driven Development (TDD)
While thinking of the requirements, you receive speedy feedback about what is required to run the tests in the system. You do not even need a complete app to get suggestions.
While using TDD, it makes you think like a needed API from the beginning itself. You have to think about properties, classes, and other requirements of the API. It leads to amazing API design.
After knowing the properties and class, another advantage is that you have to think only about what a code has to do rather than how the code should do.
This tool helps in creating a modular code. Dependencies are decoupled from the starting and TDD makes you perform that task from the starting. Decoupling dependencies makes writing modular code easier.
TDD serves as good documentation. For instance, the tests created for codebase written by other developers help you to know the written code well.
Why is TDD important?
The primary reason to test applications is- that when testing is executed, the software is proposed to work correctly in all the ways possible.
There are many software that don't function properly and have bugs that are easy to solve, and maybe just a simple warning can solve different problems. But when TDD is used, many such problems can be avoided.
So, TDD is the testing process that helps you avoid errors and guarantees that your app becomes successful.
Implementing Test-Driven Development (TDD) in .NET
You should have the following things:
Visual Studio 2022
.NET 6 SDK
Making a whole project in VS:
Make a new project
Pick ASP.NET Core Web API
Name: TDDTestApp
Next
Choose .NET 6 (LTS)
Uncheck the option “Use controllers”
Create
The project is made using the following command line:
- dotnet new web -of TDDTestApp
Now let’s see the three-step common implementation process of TDD. NET.
Common steps for implementing TDD
Generally, TDD runs in a specific cycle-> Red, Green, and Refactor. It contains three phases as described below:
Red phase- Write a short test that fails
Green phase- Write code to pass the tests that you wrote in the previous phase
Refactor- the code is refactored until it’s clean and functional
The idea of this cycle is quite succinct and simple.
Firstly, make tests that fulfill the required outline of what you have to test. This test fails as the methods and classes just don’t exist (Red phases ends)
Implement the methods and classes that are necessary for the test and pass success (Green ends)
In the last, refactoring of the code is done to make it cohesive and easy to understand (Refactoring ends)
This process can be more complex than having a traditional approach, but not to worry, it ensures that you provide qualitative code without worrying about testing the code at the last-minute.
Conclusion
TDD or Test-Driven Development process focuses on developing systems having extremely rich quality. The phases that we learned- Red, Green, and Refactor will make the code error-free and work seamlessly.
The use of the TDD process is highly recommended to avoid different problems that are caused by bad coding and to predict expected failures in the early stages.
As per your coding and project requirements, you can code for the Red, Green, and Refactoring phases and implement TDD in your .NET project accordingly.