Test-driven development vs. Test-first development

Question

What is test-first development and how does it corelate to TDD? Is test-first development a general name for things like TDD? If yes, what other test-first practices do exist?

Answer 1

Test First Development is slightly broader, slightly less specific, than TDD. You can write an acceptance test before coding, then code to make it pass; that's TFD but not TDD. TDD is more specifically about unit tests - so there is a tighter implied granularity - and includes the red-green-refactor cycle: write your failing (unit) test; demonstrate that it fails; make it pass; demonstrate that it passes; look for opportunities to refactor. TFD doesn't preclude any of those things, but it also doesn't require them.