Automated Recognition of Test-Driven Development with Zorro

Zorro is a system designed to automatically determine whether a developer is complying with an operational definition of test-driven development (TDD) practices. Automated recognition of TDD can benefit the software development community in a variety of ways, from inquiry into the "true nature" of TDD, to pedagogical aids to support the practice of test-driven development, to support for more rigorous empirical studies on the effectiveness of TDD in both laboratory and real world settings. This paper introduces the Zorro system, its operational definition of TDD, the analyses made possible by Zorro, and our ongoing efforts to validate the system.