Growing Object-Oriented Software, Guided by Tests
Growing Object-Oriented Software, Guided by Tests by Steve Freeman and Nat Pryceby Steve Freeman and Nat Pryce
Shares rank 100 of 115 programming books by recommenders
People recommend it as the best book on test-driven development for non-trivial projects, and one commenter says their own LLM-era approach follows its method.
People recommend it as the best book on test-driven development for non-trivial projects, and one commenter says their own LLM-era approach follows its method.
2 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 2
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 2 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 2 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 2 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Best TDD book for non-trivial projects
“The best "let's do something not trivial" TDD book is probably still”
Comment from 2 Apr 2026 in “Ask HN: Books on Unit Testing and TDD?” Approach aligns with a practitioner's method
“My approach (with LLMs especially) aligns more with what's outlined in”
Comment from 6 Jun 2026 in “Agent Skill for TDD”
Other programming books people recommend
The four most recommended other programming books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crafting Interpretersby Robert Nystrom | 60 | 4 | 94% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Clean Codeby Robert C. Martin | 31 | 87 | 26% | 9 | — | — |
| The Pragmatic Programmerby Hunt and Thomas | 28 | 1 | 97% | 7 | — | Approved |
| How to Design Programsby Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi | 18 | 2 | 90% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Growing Object-Oriented Software, Guided by Testsby Steve Freeman and Nat PryceThis page | 2 | 0 | 100% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
All 2 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“My approach (with LLMs especially) aligns more with what's outlined in”
“The best "let's do something not trivial" TDD book is probably still”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.