Guest Editors' Introduction: TDD--The Art of Fearless Programming

Test-driven development is a discipline of design and programming where every line of new code is written in response to a test the programmer writes just before coding. This special issue of IEEE Software includes seven feature articles on various aspects of TDD and a Point/Counterpoint debate on the use of mock objects in applying it. The articles demonstrate the ways TDD is being used in nontrivial situations (database development, embedded software development, GUI development, performance tuning), signifying an adoption level for the practice beyond the visionary phase and into the early mainstream. In this introduction to the special issue on TDD, the guest editors also summarize selected TDD empirical studies from industry and academia.