= Assertive Expressive

== DESCRIPTION

Assertive Expressive (AE) is an assertions framework
intended for reuse by any TDD, BDD or similar system.


== FEATURES

* Clear, simple and concise syntax.
* Uses higher-order functions and fluid notation.
* Reusable core extensions ease assertion construction.
* Core extensions are standardized around Ruby Facets.
* But Facets is not a dependency; the extensions are built-in.
* Easily extensible allowing for alternate notations.
* Eats it's own dog food.


== RESOURCES

* home: http://rubyworks.github.com/ae/
* code: http://github.com/rubyworks/ae/


== SYNOPSIS

AE defines the method +assert+. It's is compatible with the method
as defined by Test::Unit and MiniTest, which verifies truth of a
single argument (and can accept an optional failure message).

  assert(true)

In addition AE's +assert+ method has been extended to accept a block,
the result of which is likewise verified.

  assert{true}

But the real power the AE's +assert+ method lies in it's use
without argument or block. In that case it returns an instance of
+Assertor+. An +Assertor+ is an <i>Assertions Functor</i>, or 
<i>Higher-Order Function</i>. It is a function that operates on
another function. With it, we can make assertions like so:

  x.assert == y

  a.assert.include? e

  StandardError.assert.raised? do
    ...
  end

And so forth. Any method can be used in conjunction with +assert+
to make an assertion. Eg.

  class String
    def daffy?
      /daffy/i =~ self
    end
  end

  "Daffy Duck".assert.daffy?

When an assertion fails an Assertion exception is raised. Any test
framework can catch this exception and process it accordingly.
Technically the framework should check to see that the exception
object responds affirmatively to the #assertion? method. This way any
type of exception can be used as a means of assertion, not just AE's
Assertion class.

Please have a look at the QED and API documentation to learn more.


== INTEGRATION

Generally speaking, AE can be used with any test framework simply by putting
<code>require 'ae'</code> in a test helper script. However to fully
integrate with a test framework and ensure the test framework recognizes
AE assertions (as more than just exceptions) and to ensure assertion
counts are correct, a little extra interfacing code may be necessary.

Lucky for you AE has already done the leg work for the most common
test frameworks:

* require 'ae/adapters/testunit'
* require 'ae/adapters/minitest'
* require 'ae/adapters/rspec'

Note that Cucumber does not need an adapter.


== HOW TO INSTALL

=== Gem Installs

AE releases it's gems via Gemcutter. If you don't have Gemcutter
installed do:

  $ gem install gemcutter
  $ gem tumble

Then you can install AE with:

  $ gem install ae

=== Site Installs

Local installation requires Setup.rb.

  $ gem install setup

Then download the tarball package from GitHub
and do:

  $ tar -xvzf ae-1.0.0.tgz
  $ cd ae-1.0.0.tgz
  $ sudo setup.rb all

Windows users use 'ruby setup.rb all'.


== COPYRIGHTS & LICENSE

(Apache 2.0 License)

Copyright (c) 2008,2010 Thomas Sawyer

Unless otherwise provided for by the originating author, this
program is distributed under the terms of the Apache 2.0 license.
See the Apache2.txt for details.

Protions of this program may be copyrighted by others. See the 
NOTICE.rdoc file for details.