From: Dave Thomas <Dave@...>
Date: 2002-02-22T10:13:50+09:00
Subject: Re: recursive require

Ron Jeffries <ronjeffries@REMOVEacm.org> writes:

> Note that the code classes are defined twice. If I do it the other way
> around, running the test file, then it happens the other way around: the
> tests are loaded twice and the test files defined twice.
> 
> Either way it's weird. Worst of all, the program runs differently
> depending which file I load first.

Ron:

Ruby won't require or load the same file twice. However, executing the
file as a main program doesn't count as loading or requiring it, so:

  code.rb
      require "test"

      puts "code"


  test.rb
      require "code"

      puts "test"


When you say 'ruby code.rb', it does

   require "test"  - not yet loaded

     in test.rb

       require "code"  - not yet loaded (it thinks)

         in code.rb (again)

           require "test"  - already loaded

           puts "code"

         back out to test.rb

       puts "test"

     back out to code.rb

   puts "code"



However, just to make your like happier, did you know about the
'rubyunit' hack?  To write test cases, all you need is

   require 'rubyunit'

   class XX < TestCase

      def test_xxx
      end
      ...
   end


That's it. No suite, and no runner. It finds the test classes and
methods automatically. it also composes tests correctly if you require
multiple files like the above into another file. _And_ it runs tests
by name off the command line if you specify them:

  ruby my_tests.rb test_xxx


Cheers


Dave