The empirical study: encouraging students’ interest in software development using test-driven development

The supply is not matching the demand on the market for software developers. While the enrolment in undergraduate computer science courses is increasing, few students are interested in and committed to becoming software developers. It could be that students are overwhelmed by the software development methodology that they are taught. We are consequently looking for a constructivist approach to software engineering able to effectively engage learners. We empirically evaluated whether test-driven development (TDD) is able to improve the quality of both learning and of software development in the classroom. Although numerous studies have outlined the benefits and effects of TDD in the classroom, none of those studies have focused on measuring students\u27 interest in and attitudes toward using TDD in the classroom. We present a study evaluating the impact of TDD on the engagement and focus of learners of software development in the classroom. The results illustrate that the use of TDD in the classroom encourages learners to engage and focus

Why Research on Test-Driven Development is Inconclusive?

[Background] Recent investigations into the effects of Test-Driven Development (TDD) have been contradictory and inconclusive. This hinders development teams to use research results as the basis for deciding whether and how to apply TDD. [Aim] To support researchers when designing a new study and to increase the applicability of TDD research in the decision-making process in the industrial context, we aim at identifying the reasons behind the inconclusive research results in TDD. [Method] We studied the state of the art in TDD research published in top venues in the past decade, and analyzed the way these studies were set up. [Results] We identified five categories of factors that directly impact the outcome of studies on TDD. [Conclusions] This work can help researchers to conduct more reliable studies, and inform practitioners of risks they need to consider when consulting research on TDD.Comment: ESEM '20: ACM / IEEE International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering and Measurement (ESEM), October 8--9, 2020, Bari, Ital

An Empirical Assessment on Affective Reactions of Novice Developers When Applying Test-Driven Development

We study whether and in which phase Test-Driven Development (TDD) influences affective states of novice developers in terms of pleasure, arousal, dominance, and liking. We performed a controlled experiment with 29 novice developers. Developers in the treatment group performed a development task using TDD, whereas those in the control group used a non-TDD development approach. We compared the affective reactions to the development approaches, as well as to the implementation and testing phases, exploiting a lightweight, powerful, and widely used tool, i.e., Self-Assessment Manikin. We observed that there is a difference between the two development approaches in terms of affective reactions. Therefore, it seems that affective reactions play an important role when applying TDD and their investigation could help researchers to better understand such a development approach

An Empirical Assessment on Affective Reactions of Novice Developers When Applying Test-Driven Development

We study whether and in which phase Test-Driven Development (TDD) influences affective states of novice developers in terms of pleasure, arousal, dominance, and liking. We performed a controlled experiment with 29 novice developers. Developers in the treatment group performed a development task using TDD, whereas those in the control group used a non-TDD development approach. We compared the affective reactions to the development approaches, as well as to the implementation and testing phases, exploiting a lightweight, powerful, and widely used tool, i.e., Self-Assessment Manikin. We observed that there is a difference between the two development approaches in terms of affective reactions. Therefore, it seems that affective reactions play an important role when applying TDD and their investigation could help researchers to better understand such a development approach