Monthly Archives: July 2016

Acceptance Tests and the Testing Pyramid

There is a common testing pyramid that many organizations use regarding end-to-end, integration, and unit tests. Analogous to this pyramid, acceptance tests that are developed by the triad (customer unit, developer unit, and tester unit) can be applied at various levels. This blog entry relooks at the context diagram shown in this article, but from the standpoint of testing. Continue reading Acceptance Tests and the Testing Pyramid

Using Context and Flow Diagrams For a Big Picture

It’s helpful to understand the big picture of an application before getting down into the details. The context diagram and the workflow diagram are two ways to show it. This big picture helps in creating acceptance tests for the system that have minimal redundancy and ease of maintenance. In order to demonstrate the two diagrams, I’ll use an example of an on-line ticket ordering system. Continue reading Using Context and Flow Diagrams For a Big Picture

Another Way to Look at the Bowling Acceptance Tests

A common exercise in acceptance test driven development is write acceptance for the problem of scoring a bowling game. You may have seen other examples of acceptance tests. Here’s a different version based on some of the guidelines listed in my book. These examples are shown as Word-style tables. They can be converted into tables compatible with the syntax of your acceptance test framework. Continue reading Another Way to Look at the Bowling Acceptance Tests

ATDD Solves Development Issues

 

I’ve been teaching Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD) for many years. At the start of every course, I ask the attendees for issues they have with their development processes. After they have experienced the ATDD process, including creation of acceptance tests, I review their issues to see whether they feel that ATDD will help, hurt, or be neutral in respect to those issues. Continue reading ATDD Solves Development Issues