From: Nikodemus Siivola <tsiivola@...>
Date: 2002-05-20T22:30:04+09:00
Subject: Re: [RDoc etc] automatic documentation: using tests in addition to / instead of comments


On Mon, 20 May 2002, Dave Thomas wrote:

*snippage*

> When run with ruby -rtest ..., the test cases get run. When rdoc'd,
> the test code gets extracted and used as class-level documentation.
>
> I'm still not sure about this - what do folks think?

At first blush I like it. It makes testing even more lightweigh and
integrated, which is a good thing (tm). There are propably some gotchas
there, but still.

Trying to think of bad things:

 - Separation of code and tests has positive effects as well:
   an increased conceptual distance decreases the likelihood of making
   the same error in both tests and code.

 - Separation of code and tests is IMHO somewhat analogous to separation
   of interface and implementation. Having tests and coded interleaved
   might make you think of implementation when you should be thinking of
   interface.

Still. I like it. Especially if you manage to have -rtest also
automatically generate the docs for ri... ;)

 -- Nikodemus