TDD Expert

TDD Expert

Test-driven development produces code where every line exists because a test demanded it - which means every line is covered, the design is testable by construction, and refactoring is safe. The costly mistake this skill prevents is writing production code ahead of the tests: untested branches accumulate, the tests become an afterthought that mirrors the implementation, and the safety net has holes exactly where the bugs are.

Operating procedure

Order is the whole method - each step is only safe because the previous one finished.

Step 1: Gather inputs and write the test list

Before any test, collect: the behavior being built (one sentence), the interface it will be called through, and the known edge cases. Then write the test list: a plain bullet list of every behavior and edge case you can think of - happy path, empty input, boundaries, error cases. This is planning, not test code; add to it whenever a new case occurs to you mid-cycle instead of breaking the current cycle to chase it. If requirements are ambiguous, write the ambiguity into the list as a question and pick a defensible default, labeled as a guess.

Step 2: Red

Pick ONE item from the list - the simplest one that teaches you something. Write one failing test that describes the desired behavior through the public interface. Run it and watch it fail with the failure you expected. A test you never saw fail proves nothing: it may be testing nothing, or passing for the wrong reason.

Step 3: Green

Write the minimum code to pass - ugly, hardcoded, whatever. Minimum means minimum: hardcoding the expected return value is correct at this stage; the next test will force the generalization. Never write production code without a failing test that requires it, and never write ahead of the current test.

Step 4: Refactor

Only with all tests green: remove duplication, improve names, extract structure. Do not add behavior - behavior changes require going back to Red. Run the tests after every refactoring move.

Step 5: Repeat until the list is empty

Cross off the item, pick the next. When the list is empty and no new cases occur to you, the feature is done - by definition, with full coverage.

Worked cycle - leading-zeros kata (wordCount)

Item from the test list: "empty string has zero words."

Red - write the failing test:

test('empty string has zero words', () => {
  expect(wordCount('')).toBe(0)
})
// FAIL: wordCount is not defined  ← watched it fail

Green - minimum code, hardcoded is correct:

function wordCount(s) { return 0 }
// PASS

Next Red - force generalization with the next list item:

test('single word counts as one', () => {
  expect(wordCount('hello')).toBe(1)
})
// FAIL: expected 1, received 0

Green - now the hardcode must die:

function wordCount(s) { return s === '' ? 0 : s.split(' ').length }
// both PASS

Refactor - on green, clean up (handle multiple spaces when the test list demands it, not before):

function wordCount(s) {
  const words = s.trim().split(/\s+/).filter(Boolean)
  return words.length
}
// all PASS - only after a "multiple spaces between words" test went red first

That is one full turn of the crank: fail for the expected reason, pass with the least code, refactor with the net up.

Thresholds

• One logical assertion per test where possible; multiple asserts are acceptable only when they verify one behavior (e.g., several fields of one returned object).
• Unit test budget: each test under 100ms, the whole unit suite under 10 seconds locally - slower suites stop getting run on every Green, which breaks the loop.
• No I/O (network, disk, real clock) in unit tests unless the I/O is the behavior under test.
• Cycle length: if you have been in Red for more than about 10 minutes, the step is too big - delete the test, pick a smaller item from the list.
• Test names read like specifications: "returns zero for empty cart," not "test1".

When TDD applies

• Strongest: new features with clear requirements, complex business logic, API contract development, and bug fixes - for a bug, first write a test that reproduces it, watch it fail, then fix.
• Weaker: exploratory spikes (write them without tests, then throw the spike away and TDD the real version), UI layout changes, simple CRUD with no logic.
• Legacy code with no tests: do not start here. Pin current behavior first with characterization-test-writer, then TDD the change inside that net. If you cannot write a test for the code at all, the design is wrong - fix the seam before the feature.

Deliverable

Produce the test list, then the code and tests grown one Red-Green-Refactor cycle at a time, with the final suite green and each test readable as a one-line specification of behavior.

Do NOT

• Do not write production code without a failing test that demands it - that code is unverified by construction.
• Do not write several tests ahead; batching hides which test forced which code and stalls the feedback loop.
• Do not refactor while red - you cannot tell whether a break came from the cleanup or the unfinished feature.
• Do not skip watching the test fail; a never-failed test may pass vacuously.
• Do not test implementation details (private methods, call counts on internals) - test behavior through the public interface, or every refactor breaks the suite.
• Do not "improve" the code during Green beyond what passes the test; generalization belongs to the next Red.

Quality bar

• Every production line traceable to a test that failed without it.
• Test list fully crossed off, including error and boundary cases.
• Suite meets the runtime budget and passes deterministically (no order dependence, no shared mutable state).
• Each test asserts one behavior and names it as a specification.
• No test knows anything a caller of the public interface would not know.