From: Sean O'Dell <sean@...>
Date: 2004-07-07T06:33:40+09:00
Subject: Unit Testing Without Frameworks

On Tuesday 06 July 2004 13:55, Lothar Scholz wrote:
>
> And to be honest i stopped unit tests, because the current libraries
> GUI, networking, filesystems do not support them well enough. Hope
> that this will improve in the future.

I felt the same way.  I got back into unit testing in a way I don't think most 
people would understand.  I dropped frameworks altogether.  I started just 
running anything found in a "tests" sub-directory of whatever project I was 
working on.

Actually, I do have a framework of a sort: a single ruby file I use to launch 
tests that match a given name pattern.  Here's the entire "framework":

#!/usr/bin/ruby

pattern = nil
pattern = Regexp.new(ARGV.shift) if (ARGV.length > 0)

Dir["tests/*"].each do | filename |
  next if (filename =~ /^\./)
  
  test = filename.clone
  test.slice!(/^.+\//)
  test.slice!(/\.rb$/)

  next if (not test =~ /^test_/)
  test.slice!(/^test_/)
  
  next if (pattern and not test =~ Regexp.new("^#{pattern}$"))
  
  print("---------- #{test}' ----------\n")
  system(filename)  
end

print("---------- DONE ----------\n")



Generally, in my tests, I just do whatever and let exceptions happen where 
they happen, and every test usually ends with a statement like:

p a == expected_value

So my entire "report" consists of a series of true or falses.  When a false 
occurs, I just track it down and fix whatever caused the bug.

Perhaps it's just my need for simplicity that makes this work better for me 
than a framework.  Or perhaps current frameworks don't have the ability to 
really anticipate what everyone needs or wants.  Whatever the reason, I am 
really into unit testing now.

	Sean O'Dell