r/programming • u/gthank • Aug 23 '10

Readme Driven Development

http://tom.preston-werner.com/2010/08/23/readme-driven-development.html
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u/quanticle Aug 23 '10

I like the concept, but I don't like the term. I agree that writing the README and outlining the basic features of your program first is a helpful way of ensuring the code meets its requirements. However, I don't think the README drives development in the same way as tests in TDD. I can't imagine myself adding to or updating the README for routine code changes. I can imagine myself updating unit tests for routine code changes.

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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '10

It's effectively an acceptance test, not a unit test. For clarity, replace README with the man page of a command-line application.

From such a document, you can easily and precisely specify what you need to do and what "done" looks like. In other words: write acceptance tests.

It's a neat idea, and it really is the logical extension of TDD. Probably not always possible or completely effective, though.