[rspec-users] let vs ivar w/ before block

[David Chelimsky]

On Sep 30, 2011, at 3:31 PM, Patrick J. Collins wrote:

>> Proper usage, sure, but the memoization is only within each example - not across examples. That way you can do this:
>> 
>> let(:thing) { Thing.new }
>> 
>> it "does something" do
>>  thing.blah
>>  thing.whatever
>>  thing.yet_again
>> end
>> 
>> In that case each reference to thing returns the same object.
>> 
>> Make sense?
> 
> Hmm.. now I am confused...
> 
> What is the difference between:
> 
> describe "Foo" do
> 
>  let(:foo) { Foo.new }
> 
>  it "is tubular" do
>    foo.bar
>    foo.baz
>  end
> 
>  it "is gnarly" do
>    foo.gnarl
>    foo.wurd_up
>  end
> 
> end
> 
> vs.
> 
> describe "Foo" do
> 
>  before :each do
>    @foo = Foo.new
>  end
> 
>  it "seems just as tubular as the foo w/ let" do
>    @foo.bar
>    @foo.baz
>  end
> 
>  it "seems just as gnarly as the foo w/ let" do
>    @foo.gnarl
>    @foo.wurd_up
>  end
> 
> end
> 
> I am not seeing any difference...?

There is not, really, other than how the declaration of foo is expressed and referenced. This evolved out of a common pattern in TDD:

1:

describe "something" do
  it "does something" do
    thing = Thing.new
    thing.do_something.should have_some_outcome
  end
end

2:

describe "something" do
  it "does something" do
    thing = Thing.new
    thing.do_something.should have_some_outcome
  end

  it "does something else" do
    thing = Thing.new
    thing.do_something_else.should have_some_other_outcome
  end
end

Now there is duplication so we can refactor out the declaration of thing. It takes less work and is less error prone to change it to a let declaration than to change the references to thing to an instance variable declared in a before hook.

Cheers,
David