I just had to republish this. He is safe and sound. The Swiss guys take well care of him. “The Sun shines wildly here. Have to be indoors.” he claims.
PHPUnit + runkit: now friendly together
To fake out resources when unittesting, you can now [1] use the runkit PHP extension, which adds some more dynamism to PHP, you get to:
- add methods,
- redefine classes runtime,
- or run code in safe sandboxes
PHP heroine Sara Golemon created runkit, enabling this madness. (See her PECL user page for more of her Open Source contributions.)
My use-case for runkit+Unit Testing is Class Posing. [2]
When you deal with several layers of code, and you have no sensing in underlying layers, you feel the need to redefine that expensive database call, network access, or whatever’s cramping your unittesting style.
Fake resources using runkit ninja powers
- Create a test case for your class class
- Find a method that uses a hard-to-fake resource (some static method (Sklar explains why it’s hard), perhaps an irritating singleton).
Example test-case:
function testCallDbBadlyShouldComplain() {
// This function body pacifies new DbQuery($cmd)
$body = "return array();";
runkit_method_redefine( 'DbQuery', '__construct', '$cmd', $body);
$ret = db_exec_command('foo', 'baz');
$this->assertEquals( array('alert'=>'Unknown DB command foo'), $ret);
}
(Sorry for “hamburger example”, not real code.) For details, see runkit_method_redefine‘s manual page.
Uh, OK, that’s it, I think. I’ll try to be more PHPUnit-bloggy, as we go along. I like that tool.
Weak-ass disclaimer: In other situations, Dependency Injection, or some other dependency-breaking technique, chould be used. This case is for getting any coverage on legacy code. Think of it as just another technique, for your exotic toolchest.
[1] Why now? My ticket at PHPUnit‘s Trac got fixed, and is set to be released rather soon, in version 3.2.7. Sebastian Bergmann, main PHPUnit hacker, works hard, releases very often. So, either run trunk, or fix the little problem yourself, OR wait until next release.
[2]: About Class Posing: It was Sebastian Bergmann‘s idea to use it with PHPUnit. (He has a specialized chunk of C code sitting around on his desk, customized to extend PHP with Class Posing, but he has not [yet] gotten it into PECL, the extension repository.)
Olleolleolle: a Finnish joke
Random person on IRC says:
Did you know that there is a Kummeli joke about swedish people where this one guy says “Olle, Olle, Olle”
And, I wish I knew how to include this video right here, but I can’t be arsed to find out, so follow this link, it’s safe for work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leRsWGF3mSc.
Hairdresser
My hairdresser looked like Mona Seilitz, I said, to my workmates. “No, she looks more like Elisabeth Höglund from SVT.”
Update: Note that none of these photots depict my hairdresser.
Ruby’s gem and require explained with IRC wisdom
My Ruby rusts on the shelf. OK, here goes the evn, explainer:
[08:28] evn: did you know ruby 1.9 has an autoloading thing
[08:28] evn: its kind of odd
[08:28] evn: its like a lazy require
[08:28] evn: you have to set it up
[08:28] evn: but it doesnt happen until the constant gets referenced
[08:28] evn: seems like a source of subtle bugs to me
[08:28] evn: since loading some random ass module
can be full of side effects
[08:29] olleolleolle: autoloading, huh.
[08:29] olleolleolle: I never get the new-style "gem" inclusion to work.
[08:29] olleolleolle: require_gem still works though.
[08:29] evn: thats cause 'gem' doesn't require
[08:29] evn: it just locks the version
[08:30] evn: you have to do
[08:30] evn: gem 'bob', '>= 3'
[08:30] evn: require 'bob
[08:30] evn: i think its weird too
[08:30] evn: require_gem used to do both didnt it?
[08:30] olleolleolle: In my limited mind, that should be a
param hash to require_gem.
[08:30] evn: overloading require is just bad in general
[08:31] evn: so much badness
Blogged with Flock
Lipogram, a neat word
RuPy – Ruby & Python Conference, which you may dig
Conferences: lots of folks you want to meet, many spaces to be in, lots happening at the same time.
In Danish they call it “at gÃ¥ glip” (to miss out). Getting good at missing out is an important part of growing up.
Wait, I’m not trying to tell you to cope with your fear of missing out, I’m just… rambling. Ruby and Python conference, in Poznan, Poland. Hosted by some fine young Europeans. Last year, magical.
So, make a talk proposal already! I might do that, too, you know.
Blogged with Flock
I always wondered what Portland Oregon looked like
Flock, testing it again
They say that the people of Flock have worked on the memory leakage issues of Firefox. I’m trying that out for truth (by running Flock).
If Flock manages to pull me away from NetNewsWire Lite, I’ll be a happy toad. Less apps.
That I now have my social media items under my fingertips all the time is also… a side-effect I have to deal with. Good laced with dangerous, for a procrastinator like me.
Blogged with Flock
Nordic Game Jam 2008 coming up
I got this fine email from the organizers of Nordic Game Jam. I thought I’d share it here, since it might be of local hackerly interest.
Update: The entrance fee is totally low, at 200 DKK. (26.8 EUR, or 39.5 USD)
Dear all,
For the third year in a row: Check out the program for Nordic Game Jam, 1-3 Feb. 2008, in Copenhagen.
Event details page over at Diginet.
In 2006, 40 participants produced 8 games.
In 2007, 75 participants produced 12 games.
In 2008 we expect around 100 participants from all over Scandinavia with one thing in common: Everybody want to have a weekend with fun, creative challenges and networking with other professionals interested in (game) design, programming, sound design/music or graphics.
Please pass the link and flyer on to others in your network that might be interested in joining the event.
Hope to see you there…
Last year’s events: