Testing Backlash: Recent, well grounded opinions questioning the value of TDD and unit-testing

January 04, 2010 | 1 Minute Read
This post was originally posted on my old blog.

We all know the Gartner Hype Cycle for technology adaption:

Sometimes I wonder where on this curve we are concerning unit-testing and Test Driven Development (TDD)?

Just recently there seem to be a movement to the "Through of Disillusionment" with several fairly well grounded articles questioning the value of unit-testing and Test Driven Development (TDD):

Problems with TDD an Essay by Andrew Dalke. Heavily discussed on his blog and on Hacker News.

Chris Ashton's post: It's OK Not to Write Unit Tests

Ayende's posts: Even tests has got to justify themselves and re: Are you smart enough to do without TDD

And finally Luce Francis brilliant presentation: Testing is Overrated (matching blog post, slides)

On the other hand there seems to be prove that TDD is valuable:

Empirical Studies Show Test Driven Development Improves Quality

Maximilien-Williams study

Uncle Bobs TDD Triage