Let's test-drive some ReasonML code together.

The Goal

Our goal will be to recreate a simple List.map from the stdlib. Ours will be called Listy.map .

To get started, download the exercise on github:

git clone git@github.com:jaketrent/reason-kata-map.git

And setup the project for development:

cd reason-kata-map npm install

The Test Suite

We'll start with an existing test suite (in __tests__/listy_test.re ). Here's the suite:

open Jest; open Listy; let () = describe "map" ExpectJs.(fun () => { test "map []" (fun () => { let noop = fun () => {}; expect(Listy.map noop []) |> toEqual [] }); test "map square" (fun () => { let square = fun x => x * x; expect(Listy.map square [1, 2, 3]) |> toEqual [1, 4, 9] }); test "map String.toUpperCase" (fun () => expect(Listy.map Js.String.toUpperCase ["hello", "reason"]) |> toEqual ["HELLO", "REASON"] ); test "map String.length" (fun () => expect(Listy.map Js.String.length ["hello", "reason"]) |> toEqual [5, 6] ); });

To start, comment out or remove all but the first test.

To run the tests:

npm tests

Test 1: Empty List

The first test defines what should be returned by map for an empty list. This first test is currently failing.

This is the error we see in the console:

Error: No Such Directory

Fatal error: exception Sys_error("reason-kata-map/src: No such file or directory")

Let's create that src dir:

mkdir src

Running the tests again, we get a new error:

Error: Unbound Module

Error: Unbound module Listy

Let's create a new file:

touch src/listy.re

Rerun tests, get a new error:

Error: Unbound Value

Our map function doesn't exist:

Error: Unbound value Listy.map

Let's write the placeholder noop function by that name in src/listy.re :

module Listy = { let map () => {}; };

And test again. Our new error:

Error: Too Many Args

Error: This function has type unit -> < > It is applied to too many arguments; maybe you forgot a `;'.

Our stub implementation takes no args, but the test is applying the function with two args: the transform function and the list to map.

Let's adjust the parameter list:

module Listy = { let map fn arr => {}; };

Rerun the tests for the next error:

Error: Incompatible Return Type

Error: This expression has type 'a list Jest.ExpectJs.partial -> 'a list Jest.assertion but an expression was expected of type < > Jest.ExpectJs.partial -> 'b Type 'a list is not compatible with type < >

There's a lot in this one. I'm reading: "the test wants this function to return a generic list but you're returning nothing in your function".

Change the return value to be the correct type and value for the first test:

module Listy = { let map fn arr => []; };

Rerun the tests, and the first one passes:

PASS lib/js/__tests__/list_test.js map ✓ map [] (4ms) Test Suites: 1 passed, 1 total Tests: 1 passed, 1 total Snapshots: 0 total Time: 0.799s, estimated 1s Ran all test suites.

Test 2: Real Transform Function

The next test uses a real transform function that squares all integer input. Uncomment it, and run the tests again.

Tests are again red:

FAIL lib/js/__tests__/list_test.js ● map › map square expect(received).toEqual(expected) Expected value to equal: [1, [4, [9, 0]]] Received: 0 Difference: Comparing two different types of values. Expected array but received number. at assert_ (node_modules/bs-jest/lib/js/src/jest.js:117:39) at Object.<anonymous> (node_modules/bs-jest/lib/js/src/jest.js:234:11) at Promise.resolve.then.el (node_modules/p-map/index.js:42:16) at process._tickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:109:7) map ✓ map [] (4ms) ✕ map square (10ms) Test Suites: 1 failed, 1 total Tests: 1 failed, 1 passed, 2 total Snapshots: 0 total Time: 0.864s, estimated 1s Ran all test suites.

The odd printing of the expected list could be attributed to the implementation of the list type in Reason (or the in-progress nature of bs-jest ). List in ReasonML is implemented as a linked list, where the head element has the first value and a pointer to the rest (tail) of the list. That type might be expressed like this:

type myListType = Empty | NonEmpty int myListType;

Pattern Matching

Now that we understand the test output, we need to introduce some branching to make both tests pass. We'll accomplish this with pattern matching.

module Listy = { let map fn arr => { switch arr { | [] => [] } }; };

We've changed the implementation to use a switch , but only the first test is still passing. We haven't introduced the pattern match for the 2nd test.

This results in an interesting warning when we rerun the tests:

Warning 8: this pattern-matching is not exhaustive.

It's surprising this will even compile if this is not a total function.

switch is the keyword that will pattern match on arr . The pipe | indicates a new pattern. The expression that is run when the pattern match is after the => . Let's add a _ pattern to indicate the default pattern:

module Listy = { let map = fun fn list => { switch list { | [] => [] | _ => [1, 4, 9] } }; }

The value [1, 4, 9] will help our 2nd test pass. Rerun the tests, and they are green.

Test 3: Another Transform

Now uncomment the next test. We're red again, and we now have to support the general case for transformation. I reach for my usual functional pattern for non-empty list:

module Listy = { let map fn arr => { switch arr { | [] => [] | head :: tail => fn head :: map fn tail } }; };

Running the tests, we get our new error:

Error: Cons is Not Supported

File "reason-kata-map/src/listy.re", line 5, characters 13-15: Error: :: is not supported in Reason, please use [hd, ...tl] instead

This is surprisingly specific and seems to indicate that many developers reach for the same pattern.

Let's try the suggested, more ES6-like, syntax:

module Listy = { let map fn arr => { switch arr { | [] => [] | [head, ...tail] => [fn head, ...map fn tail] } }; };

Rerun the tests, and we get the next error:

Error: Unknown Recursive Function

File "reason-kata-map/src/listy.re", line 5, characters 40-43: Error: Unbound value map

If we look for the reference to map on the specified line, it's our recursive call to our own function. Look like, just as in F#, the compile requires us to give it a hint ( rec keyword) when we use recursive functions:

let rec map fn arr => ...

Rerun the tests, and they pass. For funsies there's one more test. Uncomment it, and it also passes.

PASS lib/js/__tests__/listy_test.js map ✓ map [] (4ms) ✓ map square (1ms) ✓ map String.toUpperCase (1ms) ✓ map String.length Test Suites: 1 passed, 1 total Tests: 4 passed, 4 total Snapshots: 0 total Time: 0.902s, estimated 1s Ran all test suites.

All Green!

We did it! We used a test suite to drive our development of some Reason code. Now we have our own map function. The errors helped us learn some things about the Reason syntax and compiler along the way.

What else did you learn in this process? What are you going to write next?