What is the purpose of Mocha's before() function?

Question

Mocha has several \'hooks\' to run assistive functionality in a test separate from the test cases themselves (clearing databases, creating mock files, etc).

However,

Answer 1

Semantics, at both the machine and human level.

Also, it keeps test code in line with the "exports" interface, e.g.,

module.exports = {
  before: function(){
    // ...
  },

  'Array': {
    '#indexOf()': {
      'should return -1 when not present': function(){
        [1,2,3].indexOf(4).should.equal(-1);
      }
    }
  }
};