Reviews for Test Driven Development (The Addison-Wesley Signature Series)

1. Interesting book spoiled by over-simplistic example

   Rated 2 out of 5 stars, December 12th, 2009

   This book could have been so much better. For me it was spoiled by the ludicrously unrealistic example which is carried throughout the book. While its always a good idea to set out the first steps in a basic example I found that half way through the book the example was still so ludicrously over-simplified and unrelated to reality that I was tempted not to throw the book away.
   
   The principles and theories that underpin test driven development are poorly served by this book because of a lack of real-world practical examples.

2. Write your test first

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

   This book could very easily have been written in 1 page.
   Write your tests first, and when necessary start with very small steps.
   That is it, reading and remembering that, as useful a piece of information as it is, should save you about £25.
   Kent Beck manages to string those two ideas over 200 pages, admittedly often very blank pages.
   If you can buy it for less than £5 then get it otherwise leave well alone.
   

3. Short and sweet

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, November 12th, 2004

   Many of the other reviews for this book have criticised it for it's length and "lack of content". However, I found the book very enjoyable for what it is: an introduction to test driven development. TDD can be (and was for me) quite an alien concept for many programmers trained in a traditional way, where testing is often an afterthought. Kent's first example of TDD, while fairly trivial, outlines all the key points in how to practice TDD properly. It also fills you with confidence and makes you think "yeah, I could probably do that".

   Perhaps you will feel differently, but I like the book simply because it is short. Huge computing textbooks that cram in too much information annoy me; I rarely have the time to read through such huge tomes or absorb everything they are trying to tell you in one sitting. I was able to read the first part of this book, and attain a reasonable understand of TDD in just over 2 hours.

   The book is not terribly expensive either, and sets the stage for further reading on TDD and agile methodologies in general.

   I would recommend this book if you are at all interested in TDD.

4. Denied 1 star only because it's an interesting idea

   Rated 2 out of 5 stars, September 12th, 2004

   I'm going to list my 3 day old copy in the Used section after I've finished writing this review.

   This book is in 4 sections, each of which would be a magazine article for any other author:

   1. A tiring, trivial example of TDD strung out over a staggering 80 pages in normal Kent-Beck-six-sentences-per-page style.
   2. An overview of JUnit, bizarrely documented in Python. Nothing against Python but what's the point when the aim is to understand JUnit, not get a taster in a new language?
   3. An brief overview of Design Patterns
   4. An brief overview of Refactoring

   There is very little new in this book and even less to help with doing it on a real project.

   But wait! Before I'm branded an unthinking curmudgeon it's not all bad; for those who have pondered the vexing issue of how to add a parameter to a method then tucked away on page 190 I found this pearl of wisdom:

   1. If the method is an interface, add the parameter to it.
   2. Add the parameter to the method
   3. Use the compiler to show you the calls that need changing

   Well what can I say...eureka? Thanks for that Kent, I'll raise it at my next developer meeting but tell'em I thought of it, they'll think me a genius.

   How Addison Wesley can put this book in the same class as Martin Fowler's stuff is a mystery, the Fowler books contain more information in the Preface.

5. beginners guide

   Rated 3 out of 5 stars, August 12th, 2004

   a good intro to testing from an XP sense. It lacks depth and therefore invites you to make you own leap to applying it to concepts not covered in the book.