rspec users - Jul 2009 - Noob syntax questions regarding rspec book...

Hey Everyone,

I''ve been working my way through the Rspec book trying to absorb and
understand everything. This is my first time with BDD and I''m just
trying to figure out some simple syntax stuff. My questions revolve
around some of the syntaxing used in the book. These are really simple
questions.


1.) Given /^the secret code is (. . . .)$/ do |code|
        Is (. . . .) simply a place holder? could I use something like
(- - - -) instead, or does it actually mean something?

2.) Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
        Similar question....what does .* represent?



3.) In the following example why don''t I pass   |guess| to the When
statement? I''m sure it has something to do with the (code.split)
syntax, I''m just not sure what.

When /^I guess (. . . .)$/ do |code|
@game.guess(code.split)
end


4.) And finally what does ("\n") do?

Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
  @messenger.string.split("\n").should include(mark)
end





Thank You!

Chris

They are regex.
On Jul 7, 2009, at 10:35 AM, Chris Sund wrote:
> Hey Everyone,
>
> I''ve been working my way through the Rspec book trying to absorb
and
> understand everything. This is my first time with BDD and I''m just
> trying to figure out some simple syntax stuff. My questions revolve
> around some of the syntaxing used in the book. These are really simple
> questions.
>
>
> 1.) Given /^the secret code is (. . . .)$/ do |code|
>        Is (. . . .) simply a place holder? could I use something like
> (- - - -) instead, or does it actually mean something?
>
> 2.) Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
>        Similar question....what does .* represent?
>
>
>
> 3.) In the following example why don''t I pass   |guess| to the
When
> statement? I''m sure it has something to do with the (code.split)
> syntax, I''m just not sure what.
>
> When /^I guess (. . . .)$/ do |code|
> @game.guess(code.split)
> end
>
>
> 4.) And finally what does ("\n") do?
>
> Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
>  @messenger.string.split("\n").should include(mark)
> end
>
>
>
>
>
> Thank You!
>
> Chris
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users

I to am in the same situation and the meaning of the /^ $/ is a
regular expression so it matches yours features so in your features is
you do

Give some random text I guess some more random test

the code would run against that given method, hope that makes sense
and that''s my view of the code

On Jul 7, 4:35?pm, Chris Sund <ch... at silhouettesolutions.net>
wrote:
> Hey Everyone,
>
> I''ve been working my way through the Rspec book trying to absorb
and
> understand everything. This is my first time with BDD and I''m just
> trying to figure out some simple syntax stuff. My questions revolve
> around some of the syntaxing used in the book. These are really simple
> questions.
>
> 1.) Given /^the secret code is (. . . .)$/ do |code|
> ? ? ? ? Is (. . . .) simply a place holder? could I use something like
> (- - - -) instead, or does it actually mean something?
>
> 2.) Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
> ? ? ? ? Similar question....what does .* represent?
>
> 3.) In the following example why don''t I pass ? |guess| to the
When
> statement? I''m sure it has something to do with the (code.split)
> syntax, I''m just not sure what.
>
> When /^I guess (. . . .)$/ do |code|
> @game.guess(code.split)
> end
>
> 4.) And finally what does ("\n") do?
>
> Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
> ? @messenger.string.split("\n").should include(mark)
> end
>
> Thank You!
>
> Chris
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-us... at
rubyforge.orghttp://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users

On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 10:35 AM, Chris
Sund<chris at silhouettesolutions.net> wrote:
> Hey Everyone,
>
> I''ve been working my way through the Rspec book trying to absorb
and
> understand everything. This is my first time with BDD and I''m just
> trying to figure out some simple syntax stuff. My questions revolve
> around some of the syntaxing used in the book. These are really simple
> questions.
Hey Chris,

The book assumes a basic working knowledge of Ruby. The questions you
are asking are about Ruby, not about RSpec or Cucumber. I''ll answer
them for you here, but I don''t think this is appropriate or necessary
for the book itself.
> 1.) Given /^the secret code is (. . . .)$/ do |code|
> ? ? ? ?Is (. . . .) simply a place holder? could I use something like
> (- - - -) instead, or does it actually mean something?
The argument to Given is a regular expression. The "." means "any
character", so (. . . .) means any four characters with spaces in
between. There are certainly more specific and fool-proof ways we
could express this, but this is a very simple way, and works just fine
in the context of a cucumber step definition.
> 2.) Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
> ? ? ? ?Similar question....what does .* represent?
The "." means any character and the "*" means any number of
times.
> 3.) In the following example why don''t I pass ? |guess| to the
When
> statement? I''m sure it has something to do with the (code.split)
> syntax, I''m just not sure what.
>
> When /^I guess (. . . .)$/ do |code|
> @game.guess(code.split)
> end
You''re correct - code.split converts "r y g c" to
[''r'', ''y'', ''g'',
''c''], which is what the game wants to receive (an array,
rather than a
string).
> 4.) And finally what does ("\n") do?
>
> Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
> ?@messenger.string.split("\n").should include(mark)
> end
The @messenger is a StringIO object. It receives puts() statements and
adds them to it''s string attribute with a line break ("\n")
at the end
so if you do this:

@messenger.puts "a"
@messenger.puts "b"

Then the result of @messenger.string is "a\nb\n"

Splitting that on "\n" results in ["a","b"], which
allows you to ask
if that result includes "a", for example:

  @messenger.split("\n").include?("a")

Which can be expressed as an expectation in RSpec like this:

  @messenger.split("\n").should include("a")


HTH,
David
>
>
>
>
>
> Thank You!
>
> Chris
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-users at rubyforge.org
> http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
>

On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 11:35 AM, Chris
Sund<chris at silhouettesolutions.net> wrote:
> Hey Everyone,
>
> I''ve been working my way through the Rspec book trying to absorb
and
> understand everything. This is my first time with BDD and I''m just
> trying to figure out some simple syntax stuff. My questions revolve
> around some of the syntaxing used in the book. These are really simple
> questions.
>
>
> 1.) Given /^the secret code is (. . . .)$/ do |code|
> ? ? ? ?Is (. . . .) simply a place holder? could I use something like
> (- - - -) instead, or does it actually mean something?
Yes it actually means something. the stuff between // is a regular
expression, and some of the characters have meaning.

   ^ means the beginning of the string
   $ means the end of the string
   Each . will mark a single character, any character will do.
  The parens mark a group, the part of the string which marks the
group will be assigned to the code parameter.
  So when the whole regex matches code will be set to the four
characters of the code separated by spaces.
>
> 2.) Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
> ? ? ? ?Similar question....what does .* represent?
it means zero or more arbitrary characters
> 3.) In the following example why don''t I pass ? |guess| to the
When
> statement? I''m sure it has something to do with the (code.split)
> syntax, I''m just not sure what.
>
> When /^I guess (. . . .)$/ do |code|
> @game.guess(code.split)
> end
There isn''t a variable named guess here. As I said in answer to the
first question, if the story says

    When I guess 1 3 4 2

then when the step is executed the code parameter to the block will be
set to "1 3 4 2" and "1 3 4 2".split gives ["1",
"3", "4", "2"]
> 4.) And finally what does ("\n") do?
>
> Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
> ?@messenger.string.split("\n").should include(mark)
> end
"\n" is a ruby string literal representing a new-line, so
   @messenger.string.split("\n") results in an array comprising each
line within @messenger.string



-- 
Rick DeNatale

Blog: http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/RickDeNatale
WWR: http://www.workingwithrails.com/person/9021-rick-denatale
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickdenatale

Rick DeNatale wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 11:35 AM, Chris
> Sund<chris at silhouettesolutions.net> wrote:
>   
>> Hey Everyone,
>>
>> I''ve been working my way through the Rspec book trying to
absorb and
>> understand everything. This is my first time with BDD and I''m
just
>> trying to figure out some simple syntax stuff. My questions revolve
>> around some of the syntaxing used in the book. These are really simple
>> questions.
>>
>>
>> 1.) Given /^the secret code is (. . . .)$/ do |code|
>>        Is (. . . .) simply a place holder? could I use something like
>> (- - - -) instead, or does it actually mean something?
>>     
>
> Yes it actually means something. the stuff between // is a regular
> expression, and some of the characters have meaning.
>
>    ^ means the beginning of the string
>    $ means the end of the string
>    Each . will mark a single character, any character will do.
>   The parens mark a group, the part of the string which marks the
> group will be assigned to the code parameter.
>   So when the whole regex matches code will be set to the four
> characters of the code separated by spaces.
>   
>> 2.) Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
>>        Similar question....what does .* represent?
>>     
>
> it means zero or more arbitrary characters
>
>   
>> 3.) In the following example why don''t I pass   |guess| to the
When
>> statement? I''m sure it has something to do with the
(code.split)
>> syntax, I''m just not sure what.
>>
>> When /^I guess (. . . .)$/ do |code|
>> @game.guess(code.split)
>> end
>>     
>
> There isn''t a variable named guess here. As I said in answer to
the
> first question, if the story says
>
>     When I guess 1 3 4 2
>
> then when the step is executed the code parameter to the block will be
> set to "1 3 4 2" and "1 3 4 2".split gives
["1", "3", "4", "2"]
>   
>> 4.) And finally what does ("\n") do?
>>
>> Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
>>  @messenger.string.split("\n").should include(mark)
>> end
>>     
>
> "\n" is a ruby string literal representing a new-line, so
>    @messenger.string.split("\n") results in an array comprising
each
> line within @messenger.string
>
>
>
>   

Chris,
FYI, a good resource to learn and play around with reg exps in ruby is: 
http://rubular.com/

-Ben

Hey everyone,

I appreciate the replies. After I posted I realized I was looking at
ruby code. It seems this is where my learning curve is going to take a
leap. I understand Rails, I am starting to understand Rspec and
Cucumber, and I understand programming. This is my second language,
but it''s the first time I have had to learn something new. I come from
a foxpro background and it seems I need to dig into the Ruby language
a little more. I keep forgetting that Rails is simply a framework and
not the language - the same is true for Rspec. I hope to laugh at my
mistakes in a year or two :-)

Thanks!

Chris Sund

On Jul 7, 9:49?am, ssmithstone <stephen.smithst... at gmail.com>
wrote:
> I to am in the same situation and the meaning of the /^ $/ is a
> regular expression so it matches yours features so in your features is
> you do
>
> Give some random text I guess some more random test
>
> the code would run against that given method, hope that makes sense
> and that''s my view of the code
>
> On Jul 7, 4:35?pm, Chris Sund <ch... at silhouettesolutions.net>
wrote:
>
> > Hey Everyone,
>
> > I''ve been working my way through the Rspec book trying to
absorb and
> > understand everything. This is my first time with BDD and I''m
just
> > trying to figure out some simple syntax stuff. My questions revolve
> > around some of the syntaxing used in the book. These are really simple
> > questions.
>
> > 1.) Given /^the secret code is (. . . .)$/ do |code|
> > ? ? ? ? Is (. . . .) simply a place holder? could I use something like
> > (- - - -) instead, or does it actually mean something?
>
> > 2.) Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
> > ? ? ? ? Similar question....what does .* represent?
>
> > 3.) In the following example why don''t I pass ? |guess| to
the When
> > statement? I''m sure it has something to do with the
(code.split)
> > syntax, I''m just not sure what.
>
> > When /^I guess (. . . .)$/ do |code|
> > @game.guess(code.split)
> > end
>
> > 4.) And finally what does ("\n") do?
>
> > Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
> > ? @messenger.string.split("\n").should include(mark)
> > end
>
> > Thank You!
>
> > Chris
> > _______________________________________________
> > rspec-users mailing list
> > rspec-us... at
rubyforge.orghttp://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
>
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-us... at
rubyforge.orghttp://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users

In addition - Ben thanks for the link, I just checked it out.  Rubular
seems like an awesome little tool and I will bookmark the page. I
really appreciate all of the help and hope I can return the favor one
day.

Thanks!

Chris

On Jul 8, 10:43?pm, internetchris <ch... at silhouettesolutions.net>
wrote:
> Hey everyone,
>
> I appreciate the replies. After I posted I realized I was looking at
> ruby code. It seems this is where my learning curve is going to take a
> leap. I understand Rails, I am starting to understand Rspec and
> Cucumber, and I understand programming. This is my second language,
> but it''s the first time I have had to learn something new. I come
from
> a foxpro background and it seems I need to dig into the Ruby language
> a little more. I keep forgetting that Rails is simply a framework and
> not the language - the same is true for Rspec. I hope to laugh at my
> mistakes in a year or two :-)
>
> Thanks!
>
> Chris Sund
>
> On Jul 7, 9:49?am, ssmithstone <stephen.smithst... at gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> > I to am in the same situation and the meaning of the /^ $/ is a
> > regular expression so it matches yours features so in your features is
> > you do
>
> > Give some random text I guess some more random test
>
> > the code would run against that given method, hope that makes sense
> > and that''s my view of the code
>
> > On Jul 7, 4:35?pm, Chris Sund <ch... at silhouettesolutions.net>
wrote:
>
> > > Hey Everyone,
>
> > > I''ve been working my way through the Rspec book trying
to absorb and
> > > understand everything. This is my first time with BDD and
I''m just
> > > trying to figure out some simple syntax stuff. My questions
revolve
> > > around some of the syntaxing used in the book. These are really
simple
> > > questions.
>
> > > 1.) Given /^the secret code is (. . . .)$/ do |code|
> > > ? ? ? ? Is (. . . .) simply a place holder? could I use something
like
> > > (- - - -) instead, or does it actually mean something?
>
> > > 2.) Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
> > > ? ? ? ? Similar question....what does .* represent?
>
> > > 3.) In the following example why don''t I pass ? |guess|
to the When
> > > statement? I''m sure it has something to do with the
(code.split)
> > > syntax, I''m just not sure what.
>
> > > When /^I guess (. . . .)$/ do |code|
> > > @game.guess(code.split)
> > > end
>
> > > 4.) And finally what does ("\n") do?
>
> > > Then /^the mark should be (.*)$/ do |mark|
> > > ? @messenger.string.split("\n").should include(mark)
> > > end
>
> > > Thank You!
>
> > > Chris
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > rspec-users mailing list
> > > rspec-us... at
rubyforge.orghttp://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
>
> > _______________________________________________
> > rspec-users mailing list
> > rspec-us... at
rubyforge.orghttp://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
>
> _______________________________________________
> rspec-users mailing list
> rspec-us... at
rubyforge.orghttp://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users

On Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 12:43 AM,
internetchris<chris at silhouettesolutions.net>
wrote:
> Hey everyone,
>
> I appreciate the replies. After I posted I realized I was looking at
> ruby code. It seems this is where my learning curve is going to take a
> leap. I understand Rails, I am starting to understand Rspec and
> Cucumber, and I understand programming. This is my second language,
> but it''s the first time I have had to learn something new. I come
from
> a foxpro background and it seems I need to dig into the Ruby language
> a little more. I keep forgetting that Rails is simply a framework and
> not the language - the same is true for Rspec. I hope to laugh at my
> mistakes in a year or two :-)
And I tend to think of regular expressions as a language within a
language.  Lot''s of programming languages incorporate regular
expressions with slight variations.

-- 
Rick DeNatale

Blog: http://talklikeaduck.denhaven2.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/RickDeNatale
WWR: http://www.workingwithrails.com/person/9021-rick-denatale
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickdenatale