There are multiple software development methodologies in the market today. You might be wondering what the best software development methodology for your project is.

If you are, then you should consider Behavior Driven Development (BDD). Today, in this article, we will discuss everything about BDD. So, let us get started.

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What is Behavior-driven Development?

Behavior-driven development or BDD is a software development technique that helps teams deliver high-quality, defect-free code by focusing on the behavior of the system under test rather than the implementation details.

BDD is not a new technique, but it has been gaining popularity in recent years as teams have sought to adopt more effective software development practices. BDD reinforces the idea that good code starts with a good understanding of the problem you're trying to solve.

How Behavior-driven Development Works?

The advantage of using a behavior-driven development (BDD) process flow is that it helps to ensure that all stakeholders are aligned with the project goals and objectives.

In BDD, teams work together to define the behavior of a system by writing stories that describe how the system should behave in specific scenarios.

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These stories are then used as the basis for creating tests that verify that the system behaves as expected. BDD helps ensure that everyone on the team has a shared understanding of the system's requirements. Developers can use BDD with various software development frameworks, including Agile and Test-Driven Development (TDD).

One of the core benefits of BDD is that it helps to ensure that everyone on the team has a shared familiarity with the system's requirements. This can be especially important when working with teams distributed across multiple locations.

Besides, it is possible to use BDD with Agile software development frameworks, such as Scrum and Kanban. Agile frameworks work on the idea of iterative development, where teams work together to release small batches of features at regular intervals.

BDD can also be used in conjunction with Test-Driven Development (TDD), a software development practice that encourages developers to write tests before writing code.

Some Popular BDD Frameworks

Various popular BDD frameworks are available in the market, such as Cucumber, JBehave, and SpecFlow. These frameworks provide a structure for writing executable specifications using a natural language.

Cucumber

Cucumber is a widely used open-source framework written in Ruby. It uses Gherkin, a language that allows you to write tests in a human-readable format.

JBehave

JBe have is another popular open-source BDD framework written in Java. It uses a specification language called JavaBeans assertions (JUnit assertions) to write tests.

SpecFlow

Spec Flow is a popular BDD framework for .NET applications. It uses a Gherkin interpreter built on top of the Microsoft Visual Studio Test Framework.

Best Practices & Guidelines for Behavior Driven Development (BDD)

There are a few best practices and guidelines that you should keep in mind when using BDD:

1. Always start by understanding the problem you're trying to solve.

Good code starts with a good understanding of the problem you're trying to solve. BDD helps ensure that everyone on the team has a shared understanding of the system's requirements.

2. Write stories that describe how the system should behave in specific scenarios.

Stories provide a high-level view of the system's requirements and can help to ensure that everyone on the team is aligned with the project goals and objectives. It is a best practice to write behavior in user stories in gherkin format (Given When Then..)

3. Use scenarios to provide more detail about how the system should behave.

Scenarios provide a more detailed view of how the system should behave and can help to identify potential problems or areas of concern.

4. Use tests to verify that the system behaves as expected.

Tests provide a way to verify that the system behaves as expected and can help to ensure that the system is ready for release.

5. Keep the test suite up-to-date as the system evolves

As the system evolves, it's essential to update the test suite to ensure that it still accurately reflects the system's requirements.

6. Use a reporting tool to track the status of your tests

A reporting tool can help you track the status of your tests and ensure that all tests are passing.

7. Regularly review your test cases to ensure that they're still accurate

As the system changes, it's vital to review your test cases to ensure they're still accurate. If they're not, you may need to update or rewrite them.

Understanding BDD and Agile

BDD is well suited for agile software development cycles. In agile, the development process is iterative and incremental, and BDD helps ensure that the requirements are always in sync with the system's current state.

Agile teams typically use story cards to track the progress of the project. BDD helps to turn these story cards into executable specifications that can be used to validate the project's progress.

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BDD User Stories and Acceptance Criteria

It is possible to implement BDD to a user story by adding an acceptance criteria story.

This can help ensure that the story is understood correctly and that all stakeholders are on the same page. The following is an example of a user story with associated acceptance criteria:

As a user, I want to be able to log in to access my account.

The user should be able to log in using their username and password.
The user should be able to see their account information after logging in.
The user should be capable of logging out of the system.
The user should be able to reset their password.

Real-World Examples of Behavior Driven Development (BDD) Scenarios

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Example 1 - A user creates a LinkedIn Account :

GIVEN Jardon is on the LinkedIn Registration page
WHEN he puts all needed registration areas
THEN his LinkedIn account is generated

So, let us know what is exactly going on here!

You will notice that the user creates a LinkedIn account. This is our GIVEN situation. The user then fills in all the required areas on the LinkedIn Registration page (their name, email, password, etc.). Once they have put in all of the information, their LinkedIn account is generated. This is our WHEN situation. Finally, we wish to ensure that the account is actually created, so we have an associated THEN situation that verifies that the account was successfully generated.

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Example 2 – Adding a Friend on LinkedIn :

GIVEN Jardon is on the LinkedIn Registration page
AND the user is logged in
WHEN the user clicks on "Add Friend."
THEN his LinkedIn account is generated

So, let us know what is exactly going on here!

Once again, we have a GIVEN situation (the user has an existing LinkedIn account and they are logged in), a WHEN situation (the user clicks on "Add Friend"), and a THEN situation (the friend is added to the user's LinkedIn account). So,

When they click on "Add Friend," a pop-up window that asks for the friend's name and email will appear. The user will then put in this information and hit "Add Friend." Once they do this, their friend will be added to their LinkedIn account. This is what happens when the WHEN situation is fulfilled. what is happening behind the scenes when the user clicks on "Add Friend"?

Behavior Driven Development vs. Test-Driven Development

There are several similarities between BDD and TDD. Both are based on similar concepts, i.e., writing tests first and then writing the code to pass the tests. However, there are some crucial differences between BDD and TDD.

BDD is more than just testing. It is a complete development process that helps ensure that the requirements are always in sync with the system's current state. BDD is based on collaboration and communication. The team works together to write stories, use a shared language, and automated tests.

TDD is more focused on testing. It is used to verify that the code meets the requirements and does not necessarily involve collaboration and communication between team members.

Here are quick differences between BDD and TDD

Behavior Driven Testing

BDD encourages the idea of behavior-driven testing. Behavior-driven testing is a method of testing that focuses on the system's behavior rather than on the individual tests.

Behavior-driven testing aims to ensure that the system behaves as expected. It is possible by writing tests that describe the desired behavior of the system.‍

How to Start Using Behavior-driven Development?

If you're interested in using BDD in your projects, there are a few things that you need to know. First, you'll need to install a BDD toolkit or framework.

Several BDD toolkits and frameworks are available, including Cucumber, JBehave, and SpecFlow. You can find a list of BDD frameworks on the Behavior-driven Development (BDD) Wiki page.

Once you have installed a BDD toolkit, you'll need to learn how to use it. Each toolkit has its own set of commands and syntax, so you'll need to spend some time learning how to use it.

Finally, you'll need to define the behavior of your system by writing stories. Stories should be written in a specific format, and they should describe how the system should behave in particular scenarios. You can find more information on writing stories on the Behavior-driven Development (BDD) Wiki page.

Benefits of Behavior-driven Development

There are multiple benefits to using Behavior-driven Development, including:

Increased Clarity and Communication
BDD helps to ensure that everyone on the team has a shared understanding of the system's requirements. This can lead to increased transparency and better communication between team members.
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Better Collaboration
BDD encourages collaboration between team members and helps to ensure that everyone is working towards the same goal.
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Boosted Productivity
BDD can help improve productivity by ensuring that all of the code in a system is covered by tests. This results in a reducing number of defects and fewer surprises during development.
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Reduced Complexity
BDD helps to keep the system's requirements under control, which can lead to a reduction in system complexity.
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Improved Quality
By definition, BDD leads to enhanced quality because it encourages developers to write tests that verify that the system behaves as expected. This results in fewer defects and a higher-quality product.

How to Transition from Traditional Development Approaches?

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If you're currently using a traditional development approach, such as waterfall or V-model, it's possible to transition to BDD. However, there are a few things that you'll need to do to make the switch.

First, you'll need to install a BDD toolkit or framework. As mentioned earlier, there are many different BDD toolkits and frameworks available, so you'll need to choose one that fits your needs.

Once you have installed a BDD toolkit, you'll need to learn how to use it. Each toolkit has its own set of commands and syntax, so you'll need to spend some time learning how to use it.

Next, you'll need to define the behavior of your system by writing stories. Stories should be written in a specific format, and they should describe how the system should behave in particular scenarios. You can find more information on writing stories on the Behavior-driven Development (BDD) Wiki page.

Finally, you'll need to rewrite your existing test cases to use the BDD syntax and commands. This can be a time-taking process, but it's worth it in the long run.

Behavior Driven Development-FAQs

Q1. What are the 3 practices of BDD?

The BDD process goes through three phases, i.e., discovery, formulation, and automation. Here, the acceptance standards are transformed into acceptance tests that are later automated.

- Discovery

Here, the business value of the product is identified, and the stakeholders are involved in getting their insights.

- Formulation

In this phase, the team creates a scenario that the automated acceptance test suite can execute.

- Automation

The automation phase executes the scenarios created in the formulation phase and checks the product against the accepted standards.
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Q2. What is Behavior in BDD?

In BDD, behavior is the term used to describe the features or functionality of the system that is to be developed. It is important to note that behavior in BDD does not mean anything related to user interface (UI) or graphical design. Instead, it focuses on the features and functionality that the system should provide.
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Q3. What is TDD BDD?

TDD BDD combines two different development practices, i.e., TDD and BDD. TDD BDD is a variant of the Test-Driven Development (TDD) process that uses behavior-driven development (BDD) techniques.

The core advantage of using TDD BDD is that it allows for better collaboration between developers and stakeholders. This is because BDD helps to better communicate the stakeholders' expectations in terms of the system's behavior.
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Q4. Is BDD the same as TDD?

BDD and TDD are two separate processes, although they share some common concepts. BDD is more focused on the system's behavior, while TDD is more focused on the tests. In addition, BDD is used to communicate stakeholders' expectations better, while TDD helps ensure that the development team stays on track.
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Q5. What is a BDD example?

In a BDD example, you would write the system's behavior in plain English. You would then create tests that verify the behavior and finally write the code to make the tests pass.

An example of this would be to write a scenario that describes the functionality of a login system. You would then create tests that verify the functionality and write the code to make the tests pass.
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Q6. What are the crucial elements of BDD?

The key elements of BDD are as follows:

- Behavior

The features or functionality of the system that is to be developed.

- Tests

The tests to verify the behavior of the system.

- Code

The code that makes the tests pass.

- Stakeholders

The stakeholders who provide input on the system's behavior.

- Collaboration

The collaboration between developers and stakeholders to ensure that the stakeholders' expectations are met.

Final Thoughts

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BDD is a popular framework for writing executable specifications. It is based on the idea of behavior-driven testing, which is a method of testing that focuses on the system's behavior rather than on the individual tests.
BDD is well suited for agile software development cycles and can ensure that the requirements are always in sync with the existing state of the system. I hope you have found this BDD tutorial useful.

Behavior Driven Development (BDD) - Everything You Want to Know