TDD stands for test-driven development, a coding approach that focuses on testing. Before you write any code for your app, you will start with a test. It is quite a challenging approach initially, but it gives you much more than just more tests.
Test-Driven development has become my preferred way of programming, and I want to show you why in my latest video course PEST Driven Laravel.
Why is TDD so hard to learn?
There are a few reasons for that. First, test-driven development is more than just a coding pattern; it is a coding approach and a mindset that requires a lot of practice and experience. Especially at the beginning, it is hard to write tests before you write the actual implementation. You need to understand what you will build and how you will create it. Without that clear vision, you will re-write your tests many times, which won't be efficient anymore.
But also, testing and TDD are topics that are often taught in a problematic way. It took me many years to become efficient and comfortable in those topics because I tried to learn from over-complicated resources that didn't fit my learning process. For example, who has ever needed a unit test about multiplying two numbers? This is not how you should start learning to test.
I want to share with you what I have learned about testing in a way I would have tried to learn it myself: a practical, modern, and easy-to-follow approach.
Hello PEST Driven Laravel
In this video course, I will teach you to write applications that are fully tested and a joy to work with now and in the future through TDD. Tests are the base for writing code that is easy to change, refactor and maintain. There is no reason to be afraid to touch your own code. Following test-driven development establishes the mindset that integrates testing and refactoring in your daily workflow.
With PEST Driven Laravel, we will build a complete application together from start to finish. It is called "LaravelCasts" and will be a video course platform. Our users will see our provided video courses, and they can buy them and watch the videos in a member's area.
The application will be built with Laravel and PEST through test-driven development. PEST is an elegant PHP testing framework that sits on top of PHPUnit and provides a modern way of testing with excellent developer experience. I also love how perfectly well it plays together with Laravel. It is my starting point for every new project.
In addition, we will use Laravel Livewire for our video player, and I will also show you how to test your Livewire components thoroughly.
We will also work with external services like a payment provider and Twitter to handle payments and send some automagical tweets about our courses.
So here is what you will learn while we build this application:
- Building a Laravel app from scratch
- Testing a Laravel app
- Testing with the test framework PEST
- Working with Laravel Livewire
- Handling external services
- Building everything through TDD
And you will learn all of this along the way while we build our application. So this will be a very practical video course where I teach by showing and not telling. I'm sure you will love it!
