Make sure test fail properly, and *properly* check parameter equality

Hello @nicks, 

Please review the following commits I made in branch 'kyle-fix-tests'.

c560071bbee17b8662644b7ec5c99dbafb582876 (2013-07-12 15:54:15 -0700)
Check length when comparing parameter equality

d6329a3f1972821f51e3948946fa13f638ae9619 (2013-07-12 15:53:54 -0700)
Make sure tests fail properly


R=@nicks