# Test Driven Development by Example by Kent Beck

3 Hacker News commenters recommended Test Driven Development by Example by Kent Beck and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 2 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as a foundational book for learning test-driven development. One critic says the approach has already been tried and failed.

## Why people recommend it

- Good starting point for learning TDD (2 comments): "the right starting point is _Test Driven Development by Example_ by Kent Beck" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47609686)) "It's still a good foundational book to start with though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47618577))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Crafting Interpreters by Robert Nystrom](https://hackerapproved.com/p/crafting-interpreters.md): 60 recommend
- [Clean Code by Robert C. Martin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/clean-code.md): 31 recommend
- [The Pragmatic Programmer by Hunt and Thomas](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pragmatic-programmer.md): 28 recommend
- [How to Design Programs by Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/how-to-design-programs.md): 18 recommend
- [Mastering Emacs by Mickey Petersen](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mastering-emacs.md): 17 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321146530?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780321146533) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Test Driven Development by Example by Kent Beck", https://hackerapproved.com/p/test-driven-development/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).