Reviews for Test Driven Development in .NET (Microsoft Professional)

1. A fairly poor introduction to unit testing and TDD

   Rated 1 out of 5 stars, June 12th, 2008

   This book gives only a very basic introduction to the concepts of unit testing and test-driven development (TDD).
   
   Much of the volume of the book is taken up with examples and "test cases" which are listed explicitly and in full detail. A better approach may have been: to explain the concepts of "test cases"; cover only one or two "test cases" in detail; leave the fully worked example as a code listing (where the user can read the tests and understand what each is meant to achieve).
   
   Where it most noticably falls down is in dealing with difficult test scenarios (such as code dependant on Singletons), and how to write code in order for it to be testable. A section on maintaining legacy code would also be a welcome addition, which is sadly amiss. Concepts of abstraction layers, mocking and extension classes (all vital in effective unit testing) are not mentioned at all.
   
   On a personal note, as a purist I would also question the use of some of the unit tests, as they seem rather to be functional tests. Dependence on config settings, pre-configured databases and XML files break away from the concepts of unit testing.
   
   I would not recommend this book, except possibly to developers new to the field of unit testing and TDD, and even then I would be hesitant.