January 2011 Archives

Test::Tiny and/or TAP::Tiny?

Perl test output (the so-called "Test Anything Protocol" or "TAP") is simple: "1..N" declaring that N tests are planned, then either comments starting with "#", or lines starting with "ok X" or "not ok X" saying whether or not test number X succeeded. Generating it should be simple. Parsing it should be almost as simple.

However, the code to generate and parse test output is a byzantine nightmare: Test::Simple and its dependencies are at least 1345 SLOC, and the various TAP-parsing modules are at least 3918 SLOC (including an IteratorFactory!).

Both generating and parsing th…

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