Browse Definitions :
Definition

acceptance test–driven development (ATDD)

Acceptance test–driven development (ATDD) is a collaborative process where developers, testers and business representatives come together to work out requirements, perceive potential pitfalls and reduce the chance of errors before coding begins. ATDD is written from the perspective of the user and answers the question "Is the code doing what it's supposed to do?"

The first step in ATDD is to assemble all parties involved and hold a specification workshop. Once requirements are defined and clarified in the workshop, the testers can create automated tests from the specified criteria. Quality assurance (QA) testers work with developers in order to implement the first test and automate it. ATDD also makes unit testing easier to implement.

ATDD test format

ATDD tests usually adhere to the following format:

Given: A setup, specified state.

And (optional): Setup continued.

When: Trigger, an action or event happens.

Then: Verification. State has changed or output is produced.

An example using the ATDD format:

Given: Movie listed on catalog of video streaming app.

And: User is a paid subscriber.

When: User selects movie to watch from app catalog.

Then: Movie is streamed for user.

Benefits of ATDD

ATDD brings everyone involved in development together to discuss the criteria around which an app is built. Clarity on requirements helps reduce wasted efforts and understanding how a business expects things to function can reduce recoding and errors. ATDD can often be beneficial for developers using Agile.

Even in cases where testing is not automated or the testers have little knowledge of coding, there is still value in clarifying business conditions and logic. All teams can benefit from collaboration with business experts and early discussion of how to test so that necessary requirements are filled. The end result of ATDD is a better, more reliable application.

ATDD vs. TDD             

While ATDD concentrates on collaboration and testing for user functionality, test-driven development (TDD) follows more of a developer-focused approach. TDD focuses on running and automating unit tests and is easier to implement. Both ATDD and TDD aim to reduce unnecessary code and developer resources, while creating comprehensive requirements and testing continuously to make sure a product meets user expectations.

This was last updated in July 2019

Continue Reading About acceptance test–driven development (ATDD)

Networking
  • CSU/DSU (Channel Service Unit/Data Service Unit)

    A CSU/DSU (Channel Service Unit/Data Service Unit) is a hardware device about the size of a modem. It converts a digital data ...

  • data streaming

    Data streaming is the continuous transfer of data from one or more sources at a steady, high speed for processing into specific ...

  • secure access service edge (SASE)

    Secure access service edge, also known as SASE and pronounced sassy, is a cloud architecture model that bundles network and ...

Security
  • application blacklisting (application blocklisting)

    Application blacklisting --increasingly called application blocklisting -- is a network or computer administration practice used ...

  • juice jacking

    Juice jacking is a security exploit in which an infected USB charging station is used to compromise devices that connect to it.

  • hypervisor security

    Hypervisor security is the process of ensuring the hypervisor -- the software that enables virtualization -- is secure throughout...

CIO
HRSoftware
  • recruitment process outsourcing (RPO)

    Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) is when an employer turns the responsibility of finding potential job candidates over to a ...

  • human resources (HR) generalist

    A human resources generalist is an HR professional who handles the daily responsibilities of talent management, employee ...

  • employee lifecycle

    The employee lifecycle is a human resources model that identifies the different stages a worker advances through in an ...

Customer Experience
  • Adobe Experience Platform

    Adobe Experience Platform is a suite of customer experience management (CXM) solutions from Adobe.

  • virtual assistant (AI assistant)

    A virtual assistant, also called an AI assistant or digital assistant, is an application program that understands natural ...

  • inbound marketing

    Inbound marketing is a strategy that focuses on attracting customers, or leads, via company-created internet content, thereby ...

Close