EasyAccept: a tool to easily create, run and drive development with automated acceptance tests

This paper introduces EasyAccept, a tool to create and run client-readable acceptance tests easily, and describes how it can be used to allow a simple but powerful acceptance-test driven software development (ATDD) approach. EasyAccept takes acceptance tests enclosing business rules and a Façade to access the software under development, and checks if the outputs of the software's execution match expected results from the tests. Driven by EasyAccept runs, software can be constructed with focus, control and correctness, since the acceptance tests also serve as automated regression tests. Results of experiments with undergraduate students demonstrate the benefits of the ATDD approach using EasyAccept and show that this tool can also help to teach and train good testing and development practices.