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+== Add a `to_squawk` method to String ==
+
+To update a core class you will have to:
+
+ * Write tests for the desired functionality.
+ * Create a file for the code you wish to use.
+ * Require that file from your 'init.rb'.
+
+Most plugins store their code classes in the plugin's lib directory.  When you add a file to the lib directory, you must also require that file from 'init.rb'.  The file you are going to add for this tutorial is 'lib/core_ext.rb'.
+
+First, you need to write the tests.  Testing plugins is very similar to testing rails apps.  The generated test file should look something like this:
+
+[source, ruby]
+--------------------------------------------------------
+# File: vendor/plugins/yaffle/test/core_ext_test.rb
+
+require 'test/unit'
+
+class CoreExtTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
+  # Replace this with your real tests.
+  def test_this_plugin
+    flunk
+  end
+end
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+Start off by removing the default test, and adding a require statement for your test helper.
+
+[source, ruby]
+--------------------------------------------------------
+# File: vendor/plugins/yaffle/test/core_ext_test.rb
+
+require 'test/unit'
+require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/test_helper.rb'
+
+class CoreExtTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
+end
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+Navigate to your plugin directory and run `rake test`:
+
+--------------------------------------------------------
+cd vendor/plugins/yaffle
+rake test
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+Your test should fail with `no such file to load -- ./test/../lib/core_ext.rb (LoadError)` because we haven't created any file yet.  Create the file 'lib/core_ext.rb' and re-run the tests.  You should see a different error message:
+
+--------------------------------------------------------
+1.) Failure ...
+No tests were specified
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+Great - now you are ready to start development.  The first thing we'll do is to add a method to String called `to_squawk` which will prefix the string with the word ``squawk!''.  The test will look something like this:
+
+[source, ruby]
+--------------------------------------------------------
+# File: vendor/plugins/yaffle/init.rb
+
+class CoreExtTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
+  def test_string_should_respond_to_squawk
+    assert_equal true, "".respond_to?(:to_squawk)
+  end
+
+  def test_string_prepend_empty_strings_with_the_word_squawk
+    assert_equal "squawk!", "".to_squawk
+  end
+
+  def test_string_prepend_non_empty_strings_with_the_word_squawk
+    assert_equal "squawk! Hello World", "Hello World".to_squawk
+  end
+end
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+[source, ruby]
+--------------------------------------------------------
+# File: vendor/plugins/yaffle/init.rb
+
+require "core_ext"
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+[source, ruby]
+--------------------------------------------------------
+# File: vendor/plugins/yaffle/lib/core_ext.rb
+
+String.class_eval do
+  def to_squawk
+    "squawk! #{self}".strip
+  end
+end
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+When monkey-patching existing classes it's often better to use `class_eval` instead of opening the class directly.
+
+To test that your method does what it says it does, run the unit tests.  To test this manually, fire up a console and start squawking:
+
+--------------------------------------------------------
+$ ./script/console
+>> "Hello World".to_squawk
+=> "squawk! Hello World"
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+If that worked, congratulations!  You just created your first test-driven plugin that extends a core ruby class.