Systematic testing should not be a topic in the computer science curriculum!

Abstract

In this paper we argue that treating "testing" as an isolated topic is a wrong approach in computer science and software engineering teaching. Instead testing should pervade practical topics and exercises in the computer science curriculum to teach students the importance of producing software of high quality. We point out that we, as teachers, are partly to blame that many software products are of low quality. We describe a set of teaching guidelines that conveys our main pedagogical point to the students: that systematic testing is important, rewarding, and fun, and that testing should be an integrated part of any software development process.