►REPL test:   copy-paste REPL interactions to define tests
REPL test:   copy-paste REPL interactions to define tests
1 The test submodule
2 Warning concerning comments
3 Warning concerning spaces and newlines
4 Future improvements
7.7
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REPL test: copy-paste REPL interactions to define tests

Georges Dupéron

Source code: https://github.com/jsmaniac/repltest

 #lang repltest package: repltest
The repltest language is a meta-language that replays a copy-pasted transcript of an interactive REPL (read-eval-print-loop) session, checking that the outputs have not changed.
This allows to quickly write preliminary unit tests based on a debugging session. It is however not a substitute for writing real tests, and these tests are more prone to the “copy-pasted bogus output into the tests” problem.

#lang repltest racket
(define x 3)
> (+ x 1)
4

The first part of the file is kept inside the top-level module. This module uses the language indicated just after #lang repltest, for example:

#lang repltest typed/racket

After the first occurrence of the prompt (by default "> ", later versions of this package will allow customizing this) is encountered, all the remaining contents of the file are understood as a REPL transcript. The prompt is only recognized if it is outside of any s-expression, which means that the > function can be used normally.

#lang repltest racket
(define x (> 3 4))
> x
#f

1 The test submodule

This language injects a test submodule using module*. When the test module is run, the expression after each prompt is read and evaluated as if it had been typed inside a real REPL, using read-eval-print-loop. The result, as printed on the standard output and standard error, is compared with the text read until the next prompt. The next prompt will only be recognized if it is not part of an s-expression, which means that occurrences of > inside an expression in the output are correctly handled:

#lang repltest racket
(define x '(> 3 4))
> x
’(> 3 4)
> '(> 5 6)
’(> 5 6)

The fact that a real REPL is used means that any language-specific output will be produced as expected. For example typed/racket prints the type of the result before the result itself, so it must be included in the expected output:

#lang repltest typed/racket
(define x 0)
> x
- : Integer [more precisely: Zero]
0

2 Warning concerning comments

Comments are not currently supported inside the REPL transcript. Also, the current version does not recognise the first prompt if it is preceded by a comment.

3 Warning concerning spaces and newlines

The tests are space-sensitive, so care should be taken to include a newline at the end of the file. This is due to the fact that in most languages, the REPL prints a newline after the result. Furthermore, extra spacing like blank lines should not be added in the transcript part of the file.

4 Future improvements

Later versions of this package will allow customizing the following aspects:

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