[Grok-dev] why are REST and JSON tests so different?

[Brandon Craig Rhodes]

As I finish up the Grok docstrings (and it's been a very educational
experience, I'm glad I volunteered), it is time for me to tackle the
REST and JSON components.  I would have expected the two services to be
very similar: both allow incoming HTTP requests to be multiplexed across
a set of Python methods (REST doing the multiplexing by HTTP method, and
JSON by the function call name in the HTTP data), and both of them -
unlike the simpler (and easier-to-document!) XML-RPC mechanism - allow
the use of layers in combination with them.

My confusion comes from three sources.  I don't mean the big overarching
confusion that happens on any first encounter with Zope 3 layers, that
someone-was-thinking-completely-backwards-here feeling. :-) I mean three
smaller and more specific things.

Please note that these are real questions, Brandon-wants-to-be-more-
educated-because-he-doesn't-understand questions!  These are not
Brandon-is-sure-you-did-something-wrong-and-is-disguising-his-design-
criticism-as-a-question questions!

So:

* The JSON tests never seem to actually test a real, live method call
  over a browser request to show that things actually work.  All of the
  tests in `tests/json` seem to either test bare components (as in
  `json_layers.py`) or test various sorts of errors that programmers can
  make in setting up their `grok.JSON` subclass.  I don't actually see a
  test of whether a JSON HTTP request actually works. :-)

* Nearly all JSON tests are unit tests, while nearly all REST tests are
  functional tests.  I am not sure what the logic was behind testing
  them each in this way; it seems, again, like both would have wanted
  unit tests for anything that checks whether the classes works, and
  then several ftests that actually throw HTTP requests at a little Grok
  web application and see if the answers come back correctly.

* When REST wants to test layers it uses URLs with ++'s all over them,
  as I would expect.  When JSON tests layers, it does lots of object
  adaptation.  Mightn't we want to standardize on one way or the other
  for testing layers/skins with both of them, so that a similar feature
  in two places in Grok has similar-looking tests in both places?

-- 
Brandon Craig Rhodes   brandon at rhodesmill.org   http://rhodesmill.org/brandon