FsCheck is great for for native code too!

I've just had call to write some good old-fashioned 'C' code recently, for use in an environment where my access to anything fancy like external libraries is limited. And a one part needs a simple transcoding function to take data in and manipulate it from the form convenient to provide into a form that's actually useful.

But of course, I want to test that bit before I start wiring it into place. There are, of course a whole slew of 'C' unit test frameworks out there, none of which I've used before, but really I wanted to just soak-test the algorithm quickly and simply, with a maximum of coverage and a minimum of distractions, so, I actually wanted a QuickCheck-equivalent tool that would "just work".

And this is where F#'s easy P/Invoke syntax (almost as simple as cutting and pasting out of the 'C' header file) and FsCheck were just the tools I was looking for -- write a property (or, in fact, a series of properties) that asserted that an input mapped by my function was the same as obtained using an equivalent .net library function already to hand as reference, invoke them with FsCheck.Check.Quick, and then TDD away, starting with the rough outlines as asserted by the early properties, and then filling in details as asserted by the later ones.