Why perform functional tests

When you are in a test environment, you can expect that things are not completely functional. It does not mean that the environment is completely broken.

pecific behaviour can be expected from an extension. From Liquid Threads it can be expected that you can reply to a thread. It is possible to create a test for this.

The benefits are obvious; no broken code goes live in the test environment, the test environment does not get corrupted and the people who test are not bothered by functionality that is broken. Essentially some time needs to be invested to write a test up front. The return on investment is huge because it is not only the developers time that is saved, no need to restore the test environment, but also the time of the people who test.

The time of the people who test is typically not valued. It is however a sign of respect to the testers that obvious tests are performed first before they are exposed to new functionality.
Thanks,
      GerardM

You can bank on it, together you do not need to invest as much

The Stanton project for MediaWiki usability will start in a few weeks. This does not mean that nothing is happening. Today I learned that a bank has spend considerable effort in introducing the UNICEF extensions. One of their programmers has spend considerable effort to improve the software. I have been told that much of this has been fed back to UNICEF. As the programmer is leaving the bank, I was happy to learn that he is allowed to take with him all the code involved.

This programmer does so far not have SVN commit rights. I learned that he is going to work for another company.. Another company interested in implementing the UNICEF extensions.

What this proves to me, is the need for collaboration between all these organisations that develop MediaWiki. It is more effective to work together. Better results can be achieved for the same costs when coordination becomes a priority..

I had a word with Erik.. He told me that MediaWiki already has something like the CreatePage extension in core. It is part of a search result...

What else happens when you click on Uniwiki or what else happens when you click on Create Page..
Thanks,
      GerardM