From: 7stud -- <bbxx789_05ss@...>
Date: 2007-10-24T16:01:27+09:00
Subject: Re: Unit Testing, how to use assert_equal for last printed line?

Feng Tien wrote:
> I've been learning Ruby the last couple weeks and trying to figure how
> to Unit Test
> 

Generally, you use assertions to test the return values of methods. 
Some people use "test driven design", which means they write the tests 
first, then they write code that complements the tests, i.e. code that 
is easily testable.  So, for instance in your case, after writing your 
test, you might write a method that returns the values to be output, and 
then you would write some other code to output the values.  Your unit 
test would test the return values from the method.  However, you would 
not have any idea whether the code that outputs the values does so in 
the desired format.

In my limited experience with unit testing, you can't easily unit test 
methods that gather user input or methods that output info to the user. 
For instance, if a method prompts the user for info, how can you unit 
test that method without actually entering input by hand.  If you think 
about it for a little awhile, the solution involves replacing your data 
gathering method with a method that just returns lots of different 
values.  There are theories about how to do that in the best way, and 
they use things called 'mock objects', which you can google.
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