An evaluation of TDD training methods in a programming curriculum

This paper evaluates an innovative training method which is based on TDD (test driven development) [4] and implemented in an automatic online judge system named DICE [9]. After running the automatic grading system DICE at Hsin Kuo High School in Taiwan for years, we found that some students were left out by the DICE system. We needed a more sophisticated mechanism to assist under achievers. Our solution was to utilize TDD as an extension of the DICE system to promote learning performance in programming. We implemented DICE with TDD and have applied the innovative training method in the programming curriculum at Hsin Kuo High School in Taiwan for one semester. Simultaneously we conducted an experiment with a control and experimental group to estimate the efficiency of DICE with TDD. Our finding is that DICE with TDD improves the mean scores of learners by 50.88% over the control group.