TDD + BDD + AI = Pure magic 🪄

We’re huge proponents of Agile here at AE Studio. And we’re an AI-first company.

We’ve been using AI to write as much of our code as possible, without compromising quality. 

There may be some purists and code artisans out there who think nothing can compare to their handwritten genius. We are not those people. 

Instead of trying to write better code than AI, we’ve made it our mission to see how we can best work with and leverage AI to write the best code, the most quickly together.  

One technique we’ve been finding success with is integrating some of the old tools from our toolbelt – TDD and BDD. 

A quick primer if you’re rusty on the lingo 🤓:

TDD is where we create automated tests for a piece of software before writing all of its code.

It works in three stages:

1. We write a test for a particular function or feature.

2. We implement just enough code to make the test pass.

3. Then, we clean up and optimize that code without changing its functionality.

TDD takes a bottom-up approach, where we test individual pieces of the codebase as we go.

BDD is an extension of TDD... but with a twist!

Instead of individual tests, we evaluate the software as a whole (top-down), as users interact with it.

We test for the behaviors we want the software to engage in from the user’s perspective.

These tests are written in plain English that people without technical expertise can understand.

Done right, both methodologies can help massively in terms of:

• Catching bugs early on in development

• Improving code quality and maintainability

• Enhancing documentation

• Aligning product behavior with user requirements

• Encouraging collaboration between developers, testers, and stakeholders

It turns out that these methodologies not only help humans write better software, but they help AI write better code too 🙌.

And when doing this with AI, the time and manpower it takes to write these tests diminish significantly. You get the benefits without a lot of the tradeoffs.

Here’s what we recommend trying out: 

1. Use LLMs as an assistant to help write BDD tests

2. Pass this context to the LLM so it can understand what you are actually trying to build

3. Write unit tests with AI

4. Write the code with AI using TDD

This level of automation would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

But now Claude is the super fast developer intern who actually listens to you. Sure, sometimes he’s not perfect, but he’s getting better every day.

Talk about leverage!

Every day we’re more optimistic about the future of AI-assisted software development.

Because this is the kind of cutting-edge challenge that our team at AE Studio thrives on 😎

From AI, to BCI, to blockchain… we’ve built game-changing products for our clients across nearly every niche and vertical.

If you need an innovative solution to a tough technical problem, done fast, we’ve got your back.

Want to brainstorm about how your brand can leverage AI?

Just book a brief discovery call with us here.

And for more insights from the front-lines of tech, keep on tuning into AE Studio Bytes 💪