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Introduction to Test and Behavior Driven Development

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Introduction to Test and Behavior Driven Development

This course is part of multiple programs.

Instructor: John Rofrano

Top Instructor

34,942 already enrolled

Included with

6 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

252 reviews

Intermediate level

Recommended experience

Flexible schedule

2 weeks at 10 hours a week

Learn at your own pace

96%

Most learners liked this course

6 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

252 reviews

Intermediate level

Recommended experience

Flexible schedule

2 weeks at 10 hours a week

Learn at your own pace

96%

Most learners liked this course

What you'll learn

Explain the importance of testing
Describe test-driven development (TDD) and explain its benefits for DevOps
Develop unit tests with test assertions and test fixtures and then run the tests
Improve unit testing through advanced TDD methods including coverage reports, factories, fakes, and mock objects

Skills you'll gain

Category: Microservices
Category: Test Driven Development (TDD)
Category: Behavior-Driven Development
Category: Scenario Testing
Category: Development Testing
Category: Test Automation
Category: Code Coverage
Category: Software Engineering Tools
Category: Test Data
Category: Mockups
Category: Test Case
Category: Software Testing
Category: Unit Testing
Category: Test Tools

Tools you'll learn

Category: Gherkin (Scripting Language)
Category: Restful API

Details to know

Shareable certificate

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Assessments

13 assignments

Taught in English

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There are 6 modules in this course

Successful developers need to not only build the right software but build it right. To know your software works correctly, you need to test each unit of code. One of the best methods for this unit-level testing is test driven development.

This course provides a detailed overview of test driven development (TDD). First, you’ll learn what automated testing is and why it is essential for building robust applications resilient to failure. You’ll explore the basics of testing, including test cases, testing levels, and the traditional release cycle. You’ll learn about TDD and its complement, behavior driven development (BDD): TDD tests individual units of code while BDD tests how these units work together. Then you’ll examine TDD in detail. You’ll explore TDD’s benefits, concepts, and popular tools, and you’ll hone your new testing skills through hands-on labs. You’ll create TDD test cases by writing test assertions and building test fixtures, and you’ll run these test cases by using the Nose testing package. You’ll then practice more advanced TDD methods such as increasing code coverage, generating and using fake data, and testing mock objects.

This module provides an overview of software testing. You will learn about the importance of testing through an example: the development of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module’s guidance system. You will discover the numerous problems that occur when developers do not test their code. Then you will explore the four levels of testing and find out when each appears in the traditional release cycle. You will learn what test driven and behavior driven development are and why both are essential for effective testing. You will discover the purpose of test cases and witness their value through a demonstration.

What's included

6 videos3 readings2 assignments2 plugins

6 videosTotal 36 minutes

Course Introduction6 minutes
The Importance of Testing8 minutes
Why Developers Don’t Test 4 minutes
Testing Levels and Release Cycle5 minutes
TDD and BDD4 minutes
Testing Case Study9 minutes

3 readingsTotal 11 minutes

Course Overview 5 minutes
How to Make the Most of this Course4 minutes
Module Summary: Introduction to Testing 2 minutes

2 assignmentsTotal 45 minutes

Graded Quiz: Introduction to Testing30 minutes
Practice Quiz: Introduction to Testing15 minutes

2 pluginsTotal 12 minutes

Reading: Lab Options by Programming Language10 minutes
Module 1 Glossary: Introduction to Testing 2 minutes

This module provides an overview of Test-Driven Development (TDD). You will learn what TDD is and discover the three basic steps in the TDD and Red/Green/Refactor workflow. You will see why TDD is essential for DevOps and all automated testing. You will also discover popular testing tools for TDD and closely examine the features of several tools for Python. This module also covers essential methods for performing TDD. You will explore ways to run TDD tests such as, Python’s built-in test runner, Unittest, and the more feature-rich module, Nose. You will learn about assertions and how to use them to test code. You will discover why you must include happy and sad paths in your test module. You will also discover the test fixtures and how to use them to establish an appropriate initial state for each test.

What's included

9 videos2 readings3 assignments6 app items1 plugin

9 videosTotal 74 minutes

Benefits of Test Driven Development5 minutes
Tools for TDD 5 minutes
Running Tests with Nose4 minutes
Running Tests with Nose Demo 9 minutes
Anatomy of a Test Case7 minutes
Writing Test Assertions 8 minutes
Writing Test Assertions Demo13 minutes
Test Fixtures8 minutes
Creating an Initial State Using Test Fixtures Demo 15 minutes

2 readingsTotal 4 minutes

Summary & Highlights2 minutes
Module Summary: Test Driven Development2 minutes

3 assignmentsTotal 66 minutes

Graded Quiz: Test Driven Development30 minutes
Practice Quiz: Introduction to Test Driven Development15 minutes
Practice Quiz: Test Driven Development 21 minutes

6 app itemsTotal 93 minutes

Lab (Option A: Python): Running Tests with Nose30 minutes
Lab (Option B: JavaScript): Running Tests with Nose1 minute
Lab (Option A: Python): Writing Test Assertions30 minutes
Lab (Option B: JavaScript): Writing Test Assertions1 minute
Lab (Option A: Python): Creating an Initial State Using Test Fixtures30 minutes
Lab (Option B: JavaScript): Creating an Initial State Using Test Fixtures1 minute

1 pluginTotal 3 minutes

Module 2 Glossary: Test Driven Development3 minutes

This module covers advanced methods for TDD. You will learn about test coverage: why it’s important, how to increase it by using test coverage reports, and why you should keep testing even at full test coverage. You will discover the value of testing against fake data and how to use factories to generate this data. You will also explore mocking, a process for mimicking the behavior of real objects, and you will find out the testing situations for which mocking is useful. You will learn how to use two common methods for mocking: patching a function call and mocking entire objects.

What's included

10 videos1 reading2 assignments8 app items1 plugin

10 videosTotal 113 minutes

Test Coverage 8 minutes
Running Test Cases with Coverage Demo 19 minutes
Factories and Fakes9 minutes
Factories and Fakes Demo 18 minutes
Mocking 4 minutes
Mocking with Patch9 minutes
Mocking with Mock Objects10 minutes
Mocking with Mock Objects Demo17 minutes
Practicing Test Driven Development5 minutes
Practicing Test Driven Development Demo15 minutes

1 readingTotal 2 minutes

Module Summary: Advanced Methods for Test Driven Development2 minutes

2 assignmentsTotal 45 minutes

Graded Quiz: Advanced Methods for Test Driven Development30 minutes
Practice Quiz: Advanced Methods for Test Driven Development15 minutes

8 app itemsTotal 124 minutes

Lab (Option A: Python): Running Test Cases with Coverage30 minutes
Lab (Option B: JavaScript): Running Test Cases with Coverage1 minute
Lab (Option A: Python): Using Factories and Fakes 30 minutes
Lab (Option B: JavaScript): Using Factories and Fakes 1 minute
Lab (Option A: Python): Mocking Objects30 minutes
Lab (Option B: JavaScript): Mocking Objects1 minute
Lab (Option A: Python): Practicing Test Driven Development30 minutes
Lab (Option B: JavaScript): Practicing Test Driven Development1 minute

1 pluginTotal 1 minute

Module 3 Glossary: Advanced Methods for Test Driven Development1 minute

This module provides an overview of behavior driven development (BDD). You will explore BDD, including its benefits for higher-level automated testing and its typical workflow. You will discover the basics of Gherkin syntax, a standard syntax for writing BDD specifications. You will learn about popular BDD tools and how to select the best one for your project. This module also covers essential methods for performing BDD with Behave. You will examine how Behave uses the code in feature and steps files to test an application’s behavior from a user’s perspective. You will discover how to build a Behave environment and control test execution at various levels. Then you will explore in detail how to write feature and steps files. In addition, you will learn how to load test data from tables, automate web page interactions with Selenium, and write Python functions for testing application behaviors.

What's included

11 videos1 reading3 assignments6 app items1 plugin

11 videosTotal 57 minutes

What is Behavior Driven Development? 4 minutes
Benefits of BDD2 minutes
BDD Workflow and Gherkin Syntax 5 minutes
Example of BDD8 minutes
Tools for Behavior Driven Development 3 minutes
Overview of Behave 5 minutes
Environment Setup6 minutes
Writing Feature Files 7 minutes
Selenium5 minutes
Writing Step Files6 minutes
Loading Test Data with Behave 5 minutes

1 readingTotal 3 minutes

Module 4 Summary: Behavior Driven Development3 minutes

3 assignmentsTotal 50 minutes

Graded Quiz: Behavior Driven Development30 minutes
Practice Quiz: Introduction to Behavior Driven Development10 minutes
Practice Quiz: Methods for Behavior Driven Development10 minutes

6 app itemsTotal 68 minutes

Lab (Option A: Python): Setting up an Environment in Behave15 minutes
Lab (Option B: JavaScript): Setting up an Environment in Cucumber1 minute
Lab (Option A: Python): Writing Feature Files 20 minutes
Lab (Option B: JavaScript): Writing Feature Files1 minute
Lab (Option A: Python): Loading Test Data with Behave 30 minutes
Lab (Option B: JavaScript): Loading Test Data with Cucumber1 minute

1 pluginTotal 5 minutes

Module 4 Glossary: Behavior Driven Development5 minutes

This module provides an overview of how to use Behave to generate Python steps. Once you know how to generate the steps, you will learn the workflow for implementing them. The next lesson will explain the context variable and how to pass information between Python steps. In addition, you will discuss the benefits of variable substitution for working with Behave and its application in Python steps. Finally, you will practice behavior driven development.

What's included

4 videos1 reading2 assignments6 app items1 plugin

4 videosTotal 21 minutes

Generating Steps with Behave 4 minutes
Implementing Your First Steps 5 minutes
Working with Context5 minutes
Using Variable Substitution 7 minutes

1 readingTotal 2 minutes

Module 5 Summary: Running Behave for Behavior Driven Development 2 minutes

2 assignmentsTotal 40 minutes

Graded Quiz: Running Behave for Behavior Driven Development 30 minutes
Practice Quiz: Running Behave for Behavior Driven Development 10 minutes

6 app itemsTotal 108 minutes

Lab (Option A: Python): Generating Steps with Behave 15 minutes
Lab (Option B: JavaScript): Generating Steps with Cucumber1 minute
Lab (Option A: Python): Implementing Your First Steps 45 minutes
Lab (Option B: JavaScript): Implementing Your First Steps 1 minute
Lab (Option A: Python): Using Variable Substitution 45 minutes
Lab (Option B: JavaScript): Using Variable Substitution 1 minute

1 pluginTotal 2 minutes

Module 5 Glossary: Running Behave for Behavior Driven Development 2 minutes

In this final module, you will work on a Final project. You will apply many of the technologies and concepts you've learned in the course and will create a microservice for a product catalog backend to an eCommerce application. The UI of the eCommerce application will be used by administrators to maintain the product catalog. This Final Project is divided into two parts. In the first part of this project, you will use good Test Driven Development practices to create a REST API that allows users to Create, Read, Update, Delete, and List products by various attributes. In the second part of this project, you will write Behavior Driven Development scenarios to test that the administrative user interface that has been provided for you behaves as expected. Finally, you will also attempt a final exam to test the concepts learned.

What's included

4 readings1 assignment1 peer review3 app items3 plugins

4 readingsTotal 17 minutes

Check list: Final Project10 minutes
Course Summary3 minutes
Congratulations & Next Steps3 minutes
Thanks from the Course Team1 minute

1 assignmentTotal 45 minutes

Final Exam45 minutes

1 peer reviewTotal 60 minutes

Option 2: Peer-Graded Submission and Evaluation60 minutes

3 app itemsTotal 121 minutes

Lab (Option A: Python): Lab Environment and Starter Code60 minutes
Lab (Option B: JavaScript): Lab Environment and Starter Code1 minute
Option 1: AI-Graded Submission and Evaluation60 minutes

3 pluginsTotal 30 minutes

Reading: Final Project Overview 10 minutes
Reading: About the Product Model (Python)10 minutes
Reading: About the Product Model (JavaScript)10 minutes

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Instructor

Instructor ratings

(67 ratings)

Top Instructor

John Rofrano

IBM

8 Courses384,102 learners

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IBM

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84.18%
4 stars
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3 stars
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2 stars
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1 star
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Showing 3 of 252

Reviewed on Dec 21, 2025

The course offered by Coursera is Amazing. The Couch was good & the way he delivers & the way he teaches was good. But the review system is very slow. Which will let peers do the review.

Reviewed on Jun 19, 2023

This course was well planned and easy to follow. The demo lessons were very helpful with understanding how tests should be conducted. Great class, and great instructor.

Reviewed on Aug 4, 2024

Omg this course is great! Thanks a lot for all the effort you put into this, it's greatly appreciated, I learned a lot! :D

Frequently asked questions

No. This is an introductory course that assumes no prior knowledge of DevOps.

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