these are counts of errors, so if there are 2 errors ( such that indices 0 and 1 are valid ), then errorCount() == 2. The ASSERT_LE( 2, errorCount() ) is saying "fail if we don't have at least 2 errors", and the subsequent EXPECT_EQ is saying "consider it an error if we have a number greater than '2', but continue anyways to see if we're failing in other capacities as well".