Kent Beck
Creator of extreme programming and pioneer of test-driven development
- Age
- 65 yrs
- Birthday in 146 days
- Works listed
- 3
- Book, Testing framework
- Honours
- 0
- Awards & distinctions
- Profile views
- 0
- 0 followers
Kent Beck is an American software engineer who created Extreme Programming (XP), popularised test-driven development and co-created the JUnit testing framework. He was one of the original signatories of the 2001 Agile Manifesto.
Biography
Patterns
Beck studied at the University of Oregon. At Tektronix in the late 1980s, he and Ward Cunningham applied architectural pattern languages to software, laying groundwork for design patterns.
Extreme Programming
Leading the Chrysler payroll project in 1996, he combined practices such as pair programming, short releases and continuous testing into Extreme Programming, described in Extreme Programming Explained (1999).
Testing
With Erich Gamma he wrote JUnit, which made automated unit testing standard in Java and inspired similar tools in other languages. His book Test-Driven Development: By Example (2002) popularised writing tests first.
Agile
He was a signatory of the 2001 Agile Manifesto and later worked at Facebook and Gusto.
Timeline
-
1961
Born in United States
-
1987
Pattern languages with Ward Cunningham
-
1996
XP on the Chrysler C3 project
-
1997
JUnit
-
1999
Extreme Programming Explained
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2001
Agile Manifesto
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2002
Test-Driven Development: By Example
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2011
Joins Facebook
Notable works
-
1999
Extreme Programming Explained Book
-
2002
Test-Driven Development: By Example Book
-
1997
JUnit Testing framework
With Erich Gamma.
Did you know?
-
1
He has said he “rediscovered” rather than invented test-driven development.
-
2
JUnit was written on a flight to a conference.
-
3
He also introduced CRC cards with Ward Cunningham.
Connections
Related people
Frequently asked
Who is Kent Beck?
Kent Beck is an American software engineer who created Extreme Programming (XP), popularised test-driven development and co-created the JUnit testing framework. He was one of the original signatories of the 2001 Agile Manifesto.
How old is Kent Beck?
Kent Beck is 65 years old, born on 31 March 1961 in United States.
Where is Kent Beck from?
Kent Beck was born in United States.
What is Kent Beck known for?
Kent Beck is best known for Extreme Programming; test-driven development; JUnit; Agile Manifesto.
References
- Kent Beck — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Kent Beck (Q92738) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Kent Beck”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Kent Beck.” TrackFame, last updated 4 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/kent-beck
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