[rspec-users] Is there a good (non-judgemental) comparison of Rspec mocking vs Mocha?

[Stephen Eley]

On Sat, Oct 3, 2009 at 8:09 PM, Rick DeNatale <rick.denatale at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I was thinking that there must be a comparison/conversion chart
> somewhere, like the Test:Unit => RSpec translation guide in the RSpec
> docs, but my usually awesome google skills seem to be failing me on
> this.

Major differences off the top of my head:

* RSpec's mocking framework has 'mock_model' and 'stub_model' for
Rails testing.  There's some controversy about them, but many people
find them convenient.

* Mocha offers the 'any_instance' class method, which makes it easy to
inject mock or stub behavior into objects that aren't created yet.
There's some controversy about it, but many people find it convenient.
 >8->

But personal or "judgmental" preferences aside, I don't think one is
head-and-shoulders above the other.  Many of the differences are
purely on the surface, and no one will call you wrong for using either
one.  I use Mocha mostly out of an aesthetic preference for its
syntax.  I don't think it makes me a better human being.  (And I try
not to mock when I can help it these days anyway.)*

As for your current project -- if it's already fairly deeply invested
in Mocha, my advice would be to keep it there.  I once did convert a
project from one to the other for inconsequential reasons.  It wasn't
_hard_ to do; it was mostly just "start with a passing test suite, and
find-and-replace and fix specific lines until it passes again."  But I
realized at the end that I hadn't really _gained_ anything.  It wasn't
even a useful refactoring.  I could've spent that time adding
something to my application instead.



-- 
Have Fun,
   Steve Eley (sfeley at gmail.com)
   ESCAPE POD - The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine
   http://www.escapepod.org