RSpec

As mentioned above, RSpec provides a domain-specific language to describe the behavior of objects. The keywords used in RSpec are similar to the ones used in other languages and/or TDD frameworks.[6] For example, if the keywords used in Test::Unit are considered, they can be mapped to the RSpec keywords as follows:

• Assertion becomes expectation
• Test method becomes Example code
• Test case becomes Example group

There are many such keywords which are used in the same context but with the similar names. The syntax of RSpec provides the ease of readability and describes the behavior of the code thereby providing freedom to the programmer. Every testing framework works in the following flow - given some context, when some event occurs, what outcome is expected. The methods like describe(), context() and it() form the analogy and the skeleton respectively of the test code.

The describe() method is used to describe a class, method or an example group. This is the outer block which actually contains the test code and it depicts the characteristics of the code enclosed in it. This method takes a number of arguments and an optional block.[6] However, normally one or two arguments are used to describe the behavior of the example group. The first argument represents the reference to the class or module whereas the second argument is optional whose datatype would be String.[6] The example groups can be nested as well. An example of using the describe method is as follows:[6]

describe User, "with no account balance" {....}
=> User with no account balance

[6]

The context() block is used to describe the context in which the class or method mentioned in the describe block is being used. This can be considered as an alias to the word describe() in this scenario and they both can be used interchangeably. Generally, describe() is used for things and context() is used for contexts. It helps to venture out different outcomes in different scenarios. The example mentioned above can be described using the context() method as follows:[6]

describe User do
  context "has no account balance" do
    ....
  end
end

[6] Using context() makes it easier to scan a spec file and makes it clear what it relates to.

It is a RSpec method which describes the specifications of the sample in the context. The it() block takes a string as an argument and the string after the 'it' keyword can be considered as the function that the block is expected to perform or in other words it can be considered as a test case. Consider the following example:[6]

describe User do
  context "has no account balance" do
    it "is not allowed to sanction a housing loan" do
      puts "The loan cannot be sanctioned due to no balance in the account."
    end
  end
end

[6]

In RSpec, an expectation is a statement expressing the state that something is expected to be in, at a particular point in the execution of a code example. RSpec uses a simple framework and keywords like should() and should_not() to express expectations. It supports matchers, that is objects that try to match an expected outcome, for common operations as well as uncommon expressions. For example, if the expected outcome of a result is say numeric value 5, a RSpec expectation that uses the matcher equal for the same would be written as follows:[6]

result.should equal(5)

RSpec provides a library called RSpec::Mocks in order to create test doubles that facilitate focusing on roles, interface discovery, but most of all making progress without implemented dependencies thereby providing isolation from coupling and non determinism.[6]