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Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)

Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) is a collaborative software development practice that focuses on a system's business behavior rather than its technical functionality. It serves as a bridge between developers, quality assurance professionals, and business stakeholders by defining a product's intended behavior in plain, natural language. This approach ensures everyone shares a common understanding of what the software is supposed to do and, more importantly, why.

Gherkin Example: BDD uses a special syntax called Gherkin, which follows a Given-When-Then structure to describe behavior. The key is that it focuses on the outcome of a process, not the specific UI actions used to trigger it.

Feature: Secure Account Access
As a registered user,
I want to log in securely,
So that I can manage my account details.

Scenario: Successful login with correct credentials

  • Given I am a user with a registered account
  • When I attempt to authenticate with my valid credentials
  • Then my authentication should be successful
  • And I should gain access to my dashboard

This example describes the business behavior of the login feature—the successful authentication and subsequent account access—rather than the UI-specific steps like "clicking a button." This allows the same behavioral test to be applied to a web application, a mobile app, or even an API without modification.