tddlisted

# Test-Driven Development ## Philosophy **Core principle**: Tests should verify behavior through public interfaces, not implementation details. Code can change entirely; tests shouldn't. **Good tests** are integration-style: they exercise real code paths through public APIs. They describe _what_ the system does, not _how_ it does it. A good test reads like a specification - "user can checkout with valid cart" tells you exactly what capability exists. These tests survive refactors because they don't care about internal structure. **Bad tests** are coupled to implementation. They mock internal collaborators, test private methods, or verify through external means (like querying a database directly instead of using the interface). The warning sign: your test breaks when you refactor, but behavior hasn't changed. If you rename an internal function and tests fail, those tests were testing implementation, not behavior. See [tests.md](tests.md) for examples and [mocking.md](mocking.md) for mocking guidelines. ## Anti-Pattern: Horizontal Slices **DO NOT write all tests first, then all implementation.** This is "horizontal slicing" - treating RED as "write all tests" and GREEN as "write all code." This produces **crap tests**: - Tests written in bulk test _imagined_ behavior, not _actual_ behavior - You end up testing the _shape_ of things (data structures, function signatures) rather than user-facing behavior - Tests become insensitive to real changes - they pass when behavio