From: "Carina C. Zona" <cczona@...>
Date: 2011-10-17T11:37:00+09:00
Subject: Re: Beginning

2011/10/16 Bartosz Dziewoński <matma.rex@gmail.com>:
> 2011/10/16 Dave Aronson <rubytalk2dave@davearonson.com>:
>> I strongly advise you also
>> Google TDD or "Test Driven Development", to start getting into some
>> good habits.
>
> I strongly advise not to until he actually learns programming first ;)
> Throwing software development methodologies at a beginner is no good,
> and at first everyone will be perfectly fine with a couple of "puts"s
> at the end of the file with whatever one's creating to verify stuff
> doesn't blow up (I know this is, in fact, testing - but testing
> without all the frameworks and related fluff is just as good or better
> at this stage).

Test-driven learning, even for beginner CS, has a proven track record,
research supporting its utility, and growing support in university
curricula and industry.  See, for instance,
<http://users.csc.calpoly.edu/~djanzen/tdl/>

I've known more than a few n00bs for whom the test-driven lessons such
as Ruby Koans gave a running start on Ruby language acquisition,
testing practices, and metaprogramming.  The Railsbridge curriculum
too is test-first.

Test-driven learning is a valid approach, and one worth exploring.

-- 
  Carina