Rethinking computer science education from a test-first perspective

Abstract

Despite our best efforts and intentions as educators, student programmers continue to struggle in acquiring comprehension and analysis skills. Students believe that once a program runs on sample data, it is correct; most programming errors are reported by the compiler; when a program misbehaves, shuffling statements and tweaking expressions to see what happens is the best debugging approach. This paper presents a new vision for computer science education centered around the use of test-driven development in all programming assignments, from the beginning of CS1. A key element to the strategy is comprehensive, automated evaluation of student work, in terms of correctness, the thoroughness and validity of the student's tests, and an automatic coding style assessment performed using industrial-strength tools.By systematically applying the strategy across the curriculum as part of a student's regular programming activities, and by providing rapid, concrete, useful feedback that students find valuable, it is possible to induce a cultural shift in how students behave.

Addressing drop-out and sustained effort issues with large practical groups using an automated delivery and assessment system

“…One proposed approach is based in the test-first paradigm, where students develop their own test cases (Edwards, 2003). In other examples, student submissions are automatically checked by the test cases developed by instructors.…”

Secret ninja testing with HALO software engineering

“…Jones proposed integrating software testing across all computer science courses [12,13] and suggested splitting different components of testing across different courses, teaching aspects incrementally so as not to overwhelm students all at once with testing. Edwards proposed a "test-first" software engineering curriculum, applying testdriven development to all programming assignments, requiring students to submit complete test cases with each of their assignments [5]. Our approach is similar to these in that we also propose early and broad exposure to testing.…”

“…However, exposure to testing even at a very basic level, can be very beneficial to the students [5,11]. In the short term, they will do better on their assignments as testing before submission might Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page.…”

“…While there have been a number of approaches to bring testing to students early in the curriculum [5,12,13], there have been significant setbacks due to low student engagement and interest in testing [6]. Past efforts to teach students introductory testing practices have focused on formal testing practices, including approaches using test driven development [5,6].…”

“…Past efforts to teach students introductory testing practices have focused on formal testing practices, including approaches using test driven development [5,6].…”