Hi guys. I always code my tests something like this:

testBlah
    | universalAnswer |
    universalAnswer := 30.
    universalAnswer := universalAnswer + 11.
    self assert: universalAnswer equals: 42.

In this case, 42 is the "expected" and "universalAnswer" is the "actual" value.
I feel weird writing like this:

    self assert: 42 equals: universalAnswer.

I don't know why...but I do..the same as when doing should: []  raise: Error.
In that case you put the "actual" first and the "expected" at the end...

ok....the "problem" is that assert:equals:  is in fact:   asserts: expected equals: actual  instead of
asserts: actual equals: expected

So, with my test I would receive a description in the debugger that says "'Expected 41 but was 42.'"
which is completely the opposite. Of course, if I write my tests in the way I don't like, that is:
 self assert: 42 equals: universalAnswer.

then i got the correct message "'Expected 42 but was 41.'"

I don't pretend pharo change this because I guess it is standard, and blah blah blah. But senders of #assert:equals: should both, some written as mine (so the message is incorrect for them) and some correct.

In addition, I think it is a problem of the selector name. If we could make it clearer, the won't be necessary to confuse "actual" with "expected".

Cheers

--
Mariano
http://marianopeck.wordpress.com