Better testing of coffeescript with Jasmine - coffeescript

Question

I've been switching to Coffeescript lately and I consider it a step forward (not alwasy as you'll see). The problem I'm having is that coffeescript class:
class #ComparisonCollection extends Backbone.Collection
is compiled into
(function() {
var ComparisonCollection, _ref,
__hasProp = {}.hasOwnProperty,
__extends = function(child, parent) { for (var key in parent) { if (__hasProp.call(parent, key)) child[key] = parent[key]; } function ctor() { this.constructor = child; } ctor.prototype = parent.prototype; child.prototype = new ctor(); child.__super__ = parent.prototype; return child; };
ComparisonCollection = (function(_super) {
__extends(ComparisonCollection, _super);
function ComparisonCollection() {
_ref = ComparisonCollection.__super__.constructor.apply(this, arguments);
return _ref;
}
return ComparisonCollection;
})(Backbone.Collection);
}).call(this);
What this means is, Jasmine cannot test it unless I define the whole class in global namespace like this (note # ):
class #ComparisonCollection extends Backbone.Collection
This attaches the object ComparissonCollection to the window object (global namespace) which:
seems to go against the coffeescript encapsulation in the first places
is a solution that makes changing my code to be able to test it
Do you have any better suggestions how to test it without turning everything into window.something

Answer 1

A popular method is using a packaging solution for the browser. I like the simplicity of stitch. Other popular alternatives include RequireJS, Browserify and Ender.
This entails packaging your modules in some manner. In stitch and Browserify, this is exactly like in node, for instance (RequireJS uses AMD modules, which are slightly different).
Example:
// collections/comparison.coffee
class ComparisonCollection extends Backbone.Collection
module.exports = ComparisonCollection
Using it (in your own application as well as in jasmine tests):
ComparisonCollection = require 'collections/comparison'
Alternately:
// collections.coffee
class exports.ComparisonCollection extends Backbone.Collection
Using it:
{ComparisonCollection} = require 'collections'
This also adds the possibility for headless testing, using jasmine-node, so you can easily test everything while building, on a build server etc, in addition to testing it in the browser.