A Few Things I Wish I'd Known Earlier About TDD

Things That Make More Sense in Practice

The TDD cycle has three steps: Red (a failing test), Green (the minimum code to pass it), and Refactor (improve the code). One side effect of TDD is living documentation that always stays in sync with the code's actual behavior.

Why They Matter

TDD stands for Test-Driven Development: writing the test before writing the actual implementation code. Tutorials often gloss over points like these, but they make a real difference on an actual project.