refactoring with test/spec

I have some ugly code to convert a String to a JSON array:

  # Split the symbols_sent string into a javascript array

  def convert_symbols_sent_into_javascript_array()
    str = symbols_sent
    n = "["
    for i in (0...str.length)
      n += "\"" + str[i..i] + "\""
      if i < str.length - 1
        n += ", "
      end
    end
    n += "]"
    @symbols_split = n
  end

And I wasn't happy with it, so I'm going to try the Ruby JSON library:

	gem install json

With this gem, it's really simple to convert a String to an Array and
then to JSON:

	puts "123".split("").to_json

returns:

	["1","2","3"]

Sweet.

So, finally, the actual test looks like:

    specify "check json conversion of symbols_sent" do
      orig_array = @adam.symbols_sent.split("") 
      json_array = JSON.parse
      @adam.convert_symbols_sent_into_javascript_array
      json_array.should.equal orig_array
    end

Now, to refactor that original code to use the ruby json library:

  # Split the symbols_sent string into a javascript array
  def convert_symbols_sent_into_javascript_array()
    symbols_sent.split("").to_json
  end

Wow, that's so much sweeter. And having the specification running as
a test tells me that I did the refactoring correctly.