On Aug 7, 2010, at 4:37 PM, Ashley Moran wrote: > On 7 Aug 2010, at 22:10, David Chelimsky wrote: > >> So - what should we do? I don't think changing Minitest is really an option, >> as too many assertion libraries already wrap Minitest assertions. I don't >> think RSpec should be in the business of monitoring methods end-users define >> to make sure they're not overriding pre-existing methods (what if you >> override a method intentionally?). The only thing I'm left with is document >> this particular case and hope for the best, but that feels unsatisfactory as >> well. > > While I fully agree if you `def` a method that already exists, you should be > expected to deal with it yourself (that's just the way things are in Ruby), > does the same apply to `let`? I can actually see an argument that you should > only be able to `let` a method that doesn't already exist, and also only do > it once (which is just a consequence of not being able to override a method, > given the current implementation).
> Can you think of any downsides of preventing RSpec users from overriding > existing methods with `let`? Yes. Let's say I write a shared example group with this: def foo raise "you need to define a foo method in the block passed to it_should_behave_like" end And you override it using let(:foo), which would be a perfectly reasonable way to handle it. In fact, it would be the way I would handle in instinctively, because now I don't have to wrote my own memoization handling into the method. > Are there any popular names already taken? Or other problems? > > To me, `let` is magic. I don't think of it, first and foremost, of defining > a method. >From the RDoc: Generates a method whose return value is memoized after the >first call. > I see the things it creates as more like local variables, and just remind > myself that they're methods if I wonder why it works. > > I'm not sold either way on this, but I think it's one worth a debate. The debate is on! Any other opinions out there? > Ash _______________________________________________ rspec-users mailing list rspec-users@rubyforge.org http://rubyforge.org/mailman/listinfo/rspec-users
