For me, surprisingly, I received an invitation to a Joomla! Automated Testing Code Sprint. Developers from all over the world come together. Of course I did not say no. My experiences with the active participation in the Code Sprint I would like to share with you in this article.

On Friday, the 9.12.16, the time had come. From 13:00 the first participants arrived in Munich. They were received by Yves Hoppe and were able to immediately start configuring their computers in the lobby of the hotel. A computer and a stable WLAN, what do we need more? I was a bit scared. I did not know exactly what the others expect me to do and whether I can contribute the expected. But this is probably not the main thing in a code sprint. Of course, in the end, there should be a result because the Code Sprint also costs some money. But the biggest positive effect arises, because experienced programmers come together with newcomers. The knowledge that is exchanged is a good basis for the further cooperation after the sprint from home. So for me, there was plenty to learn and experience.

Goal of this sprint

Within the Joomla! Project we use different test types. In addition to unit tests, where a small part of the code is tested in isolation, we are increasingly using Acceptance Tests.

And for this tests we use Codeception. A goal of the sprint should be the stabilisation of this tests and the tests should be extended to different browsers. We also worked with Docker containers. Docker containers are a Tool for Joomla! Developers. With this containers, they should be able to test their extensions easier.

I worked together with Francesco Abeni and Nicola Galgano on tests for com_modules. That was incredibly exciting. In the beginning, everything was a bit awkward: We generated on the computer of one person the Git Branch and worked further on the notebook of one other. In the end, we realised, that we are on the wrong computer for the Git-Commit. But this was only a short time. Then we worked very well together. There was a clear distribution of tasks. I learned a lot from the two.

Particularly nice was: If questions arose, this questions could be quickly clarified - most relevant persons were nearby.

Also for the physical well-being was well catered. In the rooms on Munich, there were delicious biscuits and all kinds of anti-alcoholic drinks.

My conclusion

It was a great experience for me. The atmosphere was good, a nice mix of relaxed atmosphere and concentrated work. I found it enriching to experience people I know only digitally. Also, the insight into the way of doing work in the team was interesting. I have experienced problem analyses as well as finding solutions first hand.