If you tell someone they’re coding wrong, then tell them ‘why’.

Posted on | by Jason Snelders

I’m writing unit tests in xUnit and have the following example asserts:

Assert.Equal(5, results.Count);
Assert.Equal(0, results.Where(r => r.MatchResult == ComparisonMatchResult.InvalidDonorAllele).ToList().Count);
Assert.Equal(1, results.Where(r => r.MatchResult == ComparisonMatchResult.Potential).ToList().Count);
Assert.Equal(4, results.Where(r => r.MatchResult == ComparisonMatchResult.Specific).ToList().Count);

However, xUnit gives me warning squiggles and messages like this:

xUnit - Do not use Assert.Equal() to check for collection size.

When I Google for the warning to find out more I come to https://xunit.github.io/xunit.analyzers/rules/xUnit2013.html.

The problem is that page – nor any other page I can find so far – tells me why I should not use check collection sizes when there are zero (0) or one (1) expected elements. Why are there specialised assertions for these 2 specific cases? Why am I penalised for writing code in what I feel is a consistent and, I believe, easier to read way?

The moral of the story for developers: if you’re going to tell someone they’re doing it wrong, please also tell them why they are wrong and why the alternative is better.