API Testing - TDD for APIs

Test-Driven Development (TDD) is a software development paradigm used very commonly in production. Often this is done via pair programming. It is based on a short, rapid development cycle in which tests are written before the executable code and constantly iterated on.

1. Write Test for specific application behavior.
   • What is the expected behavior?
   • Do you expect errors?
   • What are the pieces of that response?
   • What assumptions are you making?
2. Fail Test and watch them
   (You want to see that failure happen before you’ve written the code itself so that you know your application is failing the test and that the test is well formatted.)
3. Write Code to execute the required behavior
4. Pass Test
5. Refactor
   (You want to make sure the code that you have written, is as efficient as humanly possible.)
6. Repeat 1-5 steps for the next test

Often while pair programming, one partner will write the test and the other will write the executable code, after which the partner will switch. This process is helpful for checking assumptions about behavior and making sure all expected behavior is captured.

---

The benefit of doing TDD:

• Define expected behavior before implementation
• Write concise code that just executes the behavior
• Keeps development cycles short and rapid