Compare Test Driven Development and Traditional Testing?

Till many years the traditional testing was in use until there was a rise of another software development strategy or process called the test driven development. These two development processes are in great contrast to each other. 

This article is focussed entirely up on the differences between the two types of development i.e., the traditional testing and the test driven development. So let us begin by describing the test driven development. 

About Test Driven Development

- The test driven development process is comprised of the repetition of very short development cycles.

- By short here we mean the development cycles in the test driven development are shorter than the usual normal cycles. 

- These development cycles comprise of the following tests:

1. Production of code: This step involves the creation of some code implementing which the code can only pass the test and does not incorporates any new functionality.
2. Execution of the automated tests and observing their success.
3. Re-factoring of code: This step involves the cleaning up of the code.
4. Repetition: The whole cycle is repeated for the improvement of the functionalities. 

- The test driven development was considered to be somewhat related to the test- first programming concepts of the extreme programming long since. 

- After that it came to be as an individual software development process. 

- The test driven development has prove to be quite effective for developing ad improving the legacy code that has been developed using the older development techniques. 

- So many development styles for the test driven development have been identified like those mentioned below:

1. Fake it till you make it
2. Keep it simple stupid or KISS
3. You ain’t gonna need it or YAGNI

- In the test driven development the primary focus is on writing the code which is necessary only to pass the tests to keep the design clean and clear of the fuzz.

About Traditional Testing

 Now coming to the traditional development methodologies or approaches, they are commonly called as the engineering approaches and they were defined at the very beginning of the software sciences. 

- Traditional development methodologies were developed to control the software development processes via a disciplined approach whose build and the stages were predictable.

- In the traditional software development methods, the stages of analysis and design precede the stage at which the software is build. 

- Unlike the test driven development process, these traditional development process are well documented .

- Their main disadvantage is that they are quite difficult to apply because of their complexity.

- Another disadvantage being that the traditional development methodologies are bureaucratic.

- In practical, these traditional development processes often cause a high level of complexity in the software system or application. 

- In traditional approaches there are two main stages namely:

1.      Stage of analysis and

2.      Stage of design

-The foundation of the whole project depends up on these two stages, therefore it is necessary that adequate focus is on these two stages and more and more efforts should be put on these stages. 

- For the project to be successful it is important that the traditional method is applied in the right way.

- Designing is considered to be a highly creative activity. 

- It becomes very difficult to plan and predict these complex methodologies as the level of their creativity increases. 

- The main feature of the traditional development processes is the detailed planning and designing phase. 

- Traditional development holds good when it comes to undertaking very large projects involving higher risk. 

- One more commonly observed thing is that the projects development with the traditional methodologies last longer.