Proof of concept: abbreviating mocha tests with specify

array-test.js

var should = require('chai').should();
var specify = require('./specify').create(it);

// ------------------------
//  ARRAY TEST TRADITIONAL
// ------------------------

describe('Array (traditional)', function(){

  var array = [1, 2, 3];

  describe('#push', function () {

    describe('when add a new element', function () {

      array.push(10);

      it('should have new element', function () {
        array.indexOf(10).should.be.above(-1);
      });

      it('should increase length', function () {
        array.length.should.be.equal(4);
      });

    });

  });

});

// -------------------------
//  ARRAY TEST WITH SPECIFY
// -------------------------

describe('Array (specify)', function(){

  var array = [1, 2, 3];

  describe('#push', function () {

    describe('when add a new element', function () {
      var newElement = 10;
      array.push(newElement);
      specify(function () { array.indexOf(newElement).should.be.above(-1) });
      specify(function () { array.length.should.be.equal(4) });
    });

  });

});

specify.js

var callsite = require('callsite');
var fs = require('fs');

var Specifier = function (it) {
  this.it = it;
}

Specifier.prototype.perform = function (assertion) {
  var stack = callsite();
  var call = stack[1];
  var file = call.getFileName();
  var lineno = call.getLineNumber();
  var src = fs.readFileSync(file, 'utf8');
  var line = src.split('\n')[lineno - 1];
  var desc = line
    .replace(/(specify|function|[{}().;])/g, ' ')
    .replace(/^\s*|\s*$/g, '')
    .replace(/\s{2}/g, ' ');
  return this.it(desc, assertion);
}

Specifier.create = function (mochaContext) {
  return new Specifier(mochaContext).perform;
}

module.exports = Specifier;

test-output.log

  Array (traditional)
    #push
      when add a new element
        ✓ should have new element
        ✓ should increase length

  Array (specify)
    #push
      when add a new element
        ✓ array indexOf newElement should be above -1
        ✓ array length should be equal 4

Inspired by https://github.com/tj/better-assert

Looks pretty clean

Good Stuff 👍
Definitely more sugar than the regular it syntax.

Question:

Would it still work if the specify execute asynchronous expectations? Maybe you would need to change sepecify:19:
From

return this.it(desc, assertion);

To

return this.it.apply([desc].concat[arguments])

to ensure you are by passing all the arguments from specify to the underline it block

Thanks guys!

Important advice, @thiagofelix. I'll considering specify in my personal projects to see if it's really useful. I'm going to implement this async caution, thanks!