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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Computer Sciences

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Series

2008

CS1

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Test-Driven Learning In Early Programming Courses, David S. Janzen, Hossein Saiedian Mar 2008

Test-Driven Learning In Early Programming Courses, David S. Janzen, Hossein Saiedian

Computer Science and Software Engineering

Coercing new programmers to adopt disciplined development practices such as thorough unit testing is a challenging endeavor. Test-driven development (TDD) has been proposed as a solution to improve both software design and testing. Test-driven learning (TDL) has been proposed as a pedagogical approach for teaching TDD without imposing significant additional instruction time. This research evaluates the effects of students using a test-first (TDD) versus test-last approach in early programming courses, and considers the use of TDL on a limited basis in CS1 and CS2. Software testing, programmer productivity, programmer performance, and programmer opinions are compared between test-first and test-last programming …