rustkas

rustkas

Property-Based Testing with PropEr, Erlang, and Elixir:the order of the elements in the comparison expression(page 53)

I’m wondering why you chose the following sequence in your expression:
Function under test =:= reference expression

prop_biggest() ->
    ?FORALL(List, (list(integer())),
            begin
                biggest(List) =:= lists:last(lists:sort(List))
            end).

EUnit macros using assertEqual(Expect, Expr), whehe EUnit uses the opposite order of items.

biggest_test() ->
 ?assert(5 =:= biggest([1, 2, 3, 4, 5])),
 ?assert(8 =:= biggest([3, 8, 7, -1])),
 ?assert(0 =:= biggest([0])), 
 ?assert(5 =:= biggest([-10, 5, -901])).

I understand that the order of the elements doesn’t matter. When you proposed your order, what were you guided by, what were your motives?

Marked As Solved

ferd

ferd

Author of Property-Based Testing with PropEr, LYSE, & Erlang in Anger

That’s an interesting question. I don’t think it’s a super conscious choice, but I tend to use the order of other assertion macros, where for example the format is ?assertMatch(Pattern, Expression) (this is the only one where it’s very sensitive, otherwise you just get the expected/actual order reversed in a report).

I think this, along with pattern matching generally having the assertion left-side, makes me compare that way. For example, many years ago, before people used EUnit macro in common test, the pattern for assertions would have just been Expected = lists:last(lists:sort(List)), Expected = biggest(List) and then letting the est crash if it’s wrong.

In this case, I appear to have swapped the order with what I generally use or would suggest to use, since the model should be driving the test!

Where Next?

Popular Pragmatic Bookshelf topics Top

jimmykiang
This test is broken right out of the box… — FAIL: TestAgent (7.82s) agent_test.go:77: Error Trace: agent_test.go:77 agent_test.go:...
New
jimschubert
In Chapter 3, the source for index introduces Config on page 31, followed by more code including tests; Config isn’t introduced until pag...
New
iPaul
page 37 ANTLRInputStream input = new ANTLRInputStream(is); as of ANTLR 4 .8 should be: CharStream stream = CharStreams.fromStream(i...
New
brianokken
Many tasks_proj/tests directories exist in chapters 2, 3, 5 that have tests that use the custom markers smoke and get, which are not decl...
New
raul
Hi Travis! Thank you for the cool book! :slight_smile: I made a list of issues and thought I could post them chapter by chapter. I’m rev...
New
herminiotorres
Hi! I know not the intentions behind this narrative when called, on page XI: mount() |> handle_event() |> render() but the correc...
New
adamwoolhether
Is there any place where we can discuss the solutions to some of the exercises? I can figure most of them out, but am having trouble with...
New
AufHe
I’m a newbie to Rails 7 and have hit an issue with the bin/Dev script mentioned on pages 112-113. Iteration A1 - Seeing the list of prod...
New
jwandekoken
Book: Programming Phoenix LiveView, page 142 (157/378), file lib/pento_web/live/product_live/form_component.ex, in the function below: d...
New
dachristenson
I just bought this book to learn about Android development, and I’m already running into a major issue in Ch. 1, p. 20: “Update activity...
New

Other popular topics Top

PragmaticBookshelf
Write Elixir tests that you can be proud of. Dive into Elixir’s test philosophy and gain mastery over the terminology and concepts that u...
New
ohm
Which, if any, games do you play? On what platform? I just bought (and completed) Minecraft Dungeons for my Nintendo Switch. Other than ...
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Design and develop sophisticated 2D games that are as much fun to make as they are to play. From particle effects and pathfinding to soci...
New
DevotionGeo
The V Programming Language Simple language for building maintainable programs V is already mentioned couple of times in the forum, but I...
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Build efficient applications that exploit the unique benefits of a pure functional language, learning from an engineer who uses Haskell t...
New
Help
I am trying to crate a game for the Nintendo switch, I wanted to use Java as I am comfortable with that programming language. Can you use...
New
PragmaticBookshelf
Programming Ruby is the most complete book on Ruby, covering both the language itself and the standard library as well as commonly used t...
New
hilfordjames
There appears to have been an update that has changed the terminology for what has previously been known as the Taskbar Overflow - this h...
New
NewsBot
Node.js v22.14.0 has been released. Link: Release 2025-02-11, Version 22.14.0 'Jod' (LTS), @aduh95 · nodejs/node · GitHub
New
PragmaticBookshelf
A concise guide to MySQL 9 database administration, covering fundamental concepts, techniques, and best practices. Neil Smyth MySQL...
New

Sub Categories: