Why does this test method fail?

You can also use CollectionAssert instead of Assert:

CollectionAssert.AreEqual(expected, actual);

I think it is much more simple and fancier than a loop over the collection of your test cases.

Does AreEqual only check equality of the reference, not the contents?

Yeap.

To test the contents you could:

Assert.AreEqual(expected.Count, actual.Count);
for (var i = 0; i < expected.Count; i++)
{
    Assert.AreEqual(expected[i], actual[i]);
}

The Assert.AreEqual() method does a reference equality test as you expected.

Assuming you're using .Net 3.5 or above, you can do this:

using System.Linq;

Assert.IsTrue(expected.SequenceEqual(actual));

Edit: Clarified when this option is available.

I think that this is what your are looking for:

Assert.IsTrue(expected.SequenceEqual(actual));

Check this question

Related