Speaker Topics - No Fluff Just Stuff
NFJS2026

Spec Driven Development with Java and AI

Spec Driven Development (SDD) combines executable specifications, modern Java tooling, and AI-assisted workflows to create software with stronger verification and architectural discipline. Rather than relying on uncontrolled AI generation, SDD uses specifications, testing, and layered validation to guide implementation from idea to delivery.

In this training, participants will explore how tools such as Cucumber, JUnit, Testcontainers, Rest Assured, and ArchUnit can work together with AI coding agents like Claude and Codex to produce maintainable, verifiable Java systems.

AI-assisted development can dramatically increase implementation speed, but speed without structure often creates verification debt, architectural drift, and loss of developer understanding. Spec Driven Development (SDD) addresses this problem by treating executable specifications as the central source of truth for both humans and AI agents.

In this two-hour training, we will explore how Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) and Specification by Example can drive implementation using modern Java tooling. Using Cucumber scenarios as the foundation, we will iteratively generate and validate application behavior while maintaining architectural constraints and layered verification.

Participants will learn how to combine AI-assisted development with:

  • Unit and Property-Based Testing for business logic and invariants
  • API and Acceptance Testing for behavior verification
  • Testcontainers for realistic integration testing
  • ArchUnit for enforcing architectural boundaries
  • Selenium for end-to-end UI validation

Throughout the training, we will build and verify features live using Java, JUnit, Cucumber, Rest-Assured, Testcontainers, Selenium, and AI coding agents. The focus is not simply on generating code faster but on building trustworthy systems through disciplined specifications, guardrails, and layered verification.


Daniel Hinojosa

About Daniel Hinojosa

Daniel is a programmer, consultant, instructor, speaker, and recent author. With over 20 years of experience, he does work for private, educational, and government institutions. He is also currently a speaker for No Fluff Just Stuff tour. Daniel loves JVM languages like Java, Groovy, and Scala; but also dabbles with non JVM languages like Haskell, Ruby, Python, LISP, C, C++. He is an avid Pomodoro Technique Practitioner and makes every attempt to learn a new programming language every year. For downtime, he enjoys reading, swimming, Legos, football, and barbecuing.

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