Lazytest: A new test framework for Clojure

An alternative to clojure.test, aiming to be feature-rich and easily extensible.

Why a new test framework?

Isn't clojure.test good enough?

Lazytest is designed to be a standalone test system for Clojure, disconnected from the built-in clojure.test. clojure.test has existed since 1.1 and while it's both ubiquitous and useful, it has a number of problems.

Other alternatives such as Midje and expectations have attempted to correct some of those issues and they made good progress, but many (such as Midje) relied on non-list style (test => expected) and most don't worked well with modern repl-driven development practices (using gynsyms instead of named test vars).

I like the ideas put forth in Sandra's post above about Lazytest and hope to experiment with achieving them 10 years later.

Testing with 'describe'

The lazytest.describe namespace mimics the behavior-driven testing style popularized by libraries such as RSpec.

Use the describe macro to create a group of tests. Start the group with a name and an optional documentation string.

(ns examples.readme.groups
  (:require [lazytest.describe :refer [describe it]]))

(describe app-test "This application" ...)

Within a describe group, use the it macro to create a single test example. Start your example with a documentation string describing what should happen, followed by an expression to test what you think should be logically true.

(describe +-test "with integers"
  (it "computes the sum of 1 and 2"
    (= 3 (+ 1 2)))
  (it "computes the sum of 3 and 4"
    (= 7 (+ 3 4))))

Each it example may only contain one expression, which must return logical true to indicate the test passed or logical false to indicate it failed.

Nested Test Groups

Test groups may be nested inside other groups with the testing macro, which has the same syntax as describe but does not define a top-level Var:

(ns examples.readme.nested
  (:use [lazytest.describe :only (describe it testing)]))

(describe "Addition"
  (testing "of integers"
    (it "computes small sums"
      (= 3 (+ 1 2)))
    (it "computes large sums"
      (= 7000 (+ 3000 4000))))
  (testing "of floats"
    (it "computes small sums"
      (> 0.00001 (Math/abs (- 0.3 (+ 0.1 0.2)))))
    (it "computes large sums"
      (> 0.00001 (Math/abs (- 3000.0 (+ 1000.0 2000.0)))))))

Arbitrary Code in an Example

You can create an example that executes arbitrary code with the do-it macro. Wrap each assertion expression in the lazytest.expect/expect macro.

(ns examples.readme.do-it
  (:use [lazytest.describe :only (describe do-it)]
        [lazytest.expect :only (expect)]))

(describe "Arithmetic"
  (do-it "after printing"
    (expect (= 4 (+ 2 2)))
    (println "Hello, World!")
    (expect (= -1 (- 4 5)))))

The expect macro is like assert but carries more information about the failure. It throws an exception if the expression does not evaluate to logical true.

If the code inside the do-it macro runs to completion without throwing an exception, the test example is considered to have passed.

Focusing on Individual Tests and Suites

The describe, testing, it, and do-it macros all take an optional metadata map immediately after the docstring.

Adding :focus true to this map will cause only that test/suite to be run. Removing it will return to the normal behavior (run all tests).

(describe my-test
  "fancy test"
  {:focus true}
  ...)

Lazytest Internals

The smallest unit of testing is a test case, which is a function (see lazytest.test-case/test-case). When the function is called, it may throw an exception to indicate failure. If it does not throw an exception, it is assumed to have passed. The return value of a test case is always ignored. Running a test case may have side effects. The macros lazytest.describe/it and lazytest.describe/do-it create test cases.

Tests cases are organized into suites. A test suite is a function (see lazytest.suite/suite) that returns a test sequence. A test sequence (see lazytest.suite/test-seq) is a sequence, possibly lazy, of test cases and/or test suites. Suites, therefore, may be nested inside other suites, but nothing may be nested inside a test case. The macros lazytest.describe/describe and lazytest.describe/testing create test suites.

A test suite function may NOT have side effects; it is only used to generate test cases and/or other test suites.

A test runnner is responsible for expanding suites (see lazytest.suite/expand-suite) and running test cases (see lazytest.test-case/try-test-case). It may also provide feedback on the success of tests as they run. Two built-in runners are provided, see lazytest.runner.console/run-tests and lazytest.runner.debug/run-tests.

The test runner also returns a sequence of results, which are either suite results (see lazytest.suite/suite-result) or test case results (see lazytest.test-case/test-case-result). That sequence of results is passed to a reporter, which formats results for display to the user. One example reporter is provided, see lazytest.report.nested/report.

Making Emacs Indent Tests Properly

Put the following in .emacs:

(eval-after-load 'clojure-mode
  '(define-clojure-indent
     (describe 'defun)
     (testing 'defun)
     (given 'defun)
     (using 'defun)
     (with 'defun)
     (it 'defun)
     (do-it 'defun)))

License

Originally by Alessandra Sierra.

Currently developed by Noah Bogart.

Licensed under Eclipse Public License 1.0