Sized generators in scalacheck

Question

UserGuide of scalacheck project mentioned sized generators. The explanation code

def matrix[T](g:Gen[T]):Gen[Seq[Seq[T]]] = Gen.sized {size =>
 val side = scala.Math.sqrt(size).asInstanceOf[Int] //little change to prevent compile-time exception
 Gen.vectorOf(side, Gen.vectorOf(side, g))
}

explained nothing for me. After some exploration I understood that length of generated sequence does not depend on actual size of generator (there is resize method in Gen object that "Creates a resized version of a generator" according to javadoc (maybe that means something different?)).

val g =  Gen.choose(1,5)
val g2 = Gen.resize(15, g)
println(matrix(g).sample) //  (1)
println(matrix(g2).sample) // (2)
//1,2 produce Seq with same length 

Could you explain me what had I missed and give me some examples how you use them in testing code?

Answer 1

The vectorOf method that you use is deprecated , and you should use the listOf method. This generates a list of random length where the maximum length is limited by the size of the generator. You should therefore resize the generator that actually generates the actual list if you want control over the maximum elements that are generated:

scala> val g1 = Gen.choose(1,5)
g1: org.scalacheck.Gen[Int] = Gen()

scala> val g2 = Gen.listOf(g1)  
g2: org.scalacheck.Gen[List[Int]] = Gen()

scala> g2.sample
res19: Option[List[Int]] = Some(List(4, 4, 4, 4, 2, 4, 2, 3, 5, 1, 1, 1, 4, 4, 1, 1, 4, 5, 5, 4, 3, 3, 4, 1, 3, 2, 2, 4, 3, 4, 3, 3, 4, 3, 2, 3, 1, 1, 3, 2, 5, 1, 5, 5, 1, 5, 5, 5, 5, 3, 2, 3, 1, 4, 3, 1, 4, 2, 1, 3, 4, 4, 1, 4, 1, 1, 4, 2, 1, 2, 4, 4, 2, 1, 5, 3, 5, 3, 4, 2, 1, 4, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1, 4, 3, 2, 2))

scala> val g3 = Gen.resize(10, g2)
g3: java.lang.Object with org.scalacheck.Gen[List[Int]] = Gen()

scala> g3.sample
res0: Option[List[Int]] = Some(List(1))

scala> g3.sample
res1: Option[List[Int]] = Some(List(4, 2))

scala> g3.sample
res2: Option[List[Int]] = Some(List(2, 1, 2, 4, 5, 4, 2, 5, 3))