14.4. Examples Versus Tests

TDD has turned out to be an unfortunate name. When the phrase “test-driven development” is taken at face value, the specification activity is in danger of being confused with a testing activity. Functional requirement specifications begin to resemble detailed test scripts (see Figure 14-2 later), which are difficult to understand and maintain. Alternative terms have been proposed to focus attention on specification rather than testing, such as Examples,^[69] Behaviors,^[70] and Expectations (Hendrickson 2009). During an open space session at the 2008 Agile Alliance Functional Testing Tools program workshop,^[71] a group of practitioners developed the “TDD Triangle” (Figure 14-1) to clarify our terminology.

^[69] http://www.exampler.com/

^[70] http://behaviour-driven.org/

^[71] http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/aa-ftt/