The `assert_equal` functions are part of my library of useful things (maybe this could be a start towards [VHDL’s jQuery](http://www.tekphile.com/2010/12/where-is-vhdls-jquery/) :) `libv`. Why not just use `assert` as is? Well, it’s useful to report all assert results in the same fashion, particularly to include the values that you expected and what you tested, along with the difference between them – often this is useful debugging information.
Here’s an example….