UPDATE: This article is based on extensions written for tsqlunit. Those extensions are not any longer supported. However, if you are still using SQL Server 2000 you might want to check them out as tSQLt is not compatible with SQL Server 2000. Besides of these points, this article is still a worthwhile introduction to Database Test Driven Development.

Test Driven Development (TDD) is known to be a successful method of object oriented development. In database development however, TDD practices are not wide-spread and development teams struggle with applying the TDD principles to the SQL language. This is a problem, because it leads to poorly tested code. In turn, not having the appropriate test cases, makes it difficult to improve your existing database design. Not implementing TDD practices in the database, overtime, leads to a decaying architecture and can hinder the evolution of the overall application. This article discusses ways to enable software developers to use TDD to develop in databases.

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