Notes from KatsConf2

Hello from Dublin! Yesterday I had the privilege of attending KatsConf2, a functional programming conference put on by the fun-loving, welcoming, and crazy-well-organized @FunctionalKats. It was a whirlwind of really exciting talks from some of the best speakers around. Here’s a glimpse into what I learned.

Notes from FOSDEM 2017

Riding the tram you hear the word “Linux” pronounced in four different languages. Stepping out into the grey drizzle, you instantly smell fresh waffles and GitHub-sponsored coffee, and everywhere you look you see a FSF t-shirt. That’s right kids, it’s FOSDEM time again! The beer may not be free, but the software sure is.

Marionette, Act II: Harnessing automation to test the browser

Welcome back to my post series on the Marionette project! In Act I, we looked into Marionette’s automation framework for Gecko, the engine behind the Firefox browser. Here in Act II, we’ll take a look at a complementary side of the Marionette project: the testing framework that helps us run tests using our Marionette-animated browser, aka the Marionette test harness. If – like me at the start of my Outreachy internship – you’re clueless about test harnesses, or the Marionette harness in particular, and want to fix that, you’re in the right place!

Outreachy halftime(ish) update

It feels like yesterday that I started my Outreachy internship, but it was actually over 2 months ago! For the last couple of weeks I’ve been on Outreachy hiatus because of EuroPython, moving from Saarbrücken to Berlin, and my mentor being on vacation. Now I’m back, with 6 weeks left in my internship! So it seems like a good moment to check in and reflect on how things have been going so far, and what’s in store for the rest of my time as an Outreachyee.

Marionette, Act I: We’ve got Firefox on a string

As you may already know, I’m spending my summer interning with Mozilla’s Enginering Productivity team through the Outreachy program. Specifically, the project I’m working on is called Test-driven Refactoring of Marionette’s Python Test Runner. But what exactly does that mean? What is Marionette, and what does it have to do with testing?

In this two-part series, I’d like to share a bit of what I’ve learned about the Marionette project, and how its various components help us test Firefox by allowing us to automatically control the browser from within. Today, in Act I, I’ll give an overview of how the Marionette server and client make the browser our puppet. Later on, in Act II, I’ll describe how the Marionette test harness and runner make automated testing a breeze, and let you in on the work I’m doing on the Marionette test runner for my internship.

And since we’re talking about puppets, you can bet there’s going to be a hell of a lot of Being John Malkovich references. Consider yourself warned!

Mozilla London All Hands 2016

Last week, all of Mozilla met in London for a whirlwind tour from TARDIS to TaskCluster, from BBC1 to e10s, from Regent Park to the release train, from Paddington to Positron. As an Outreachy intern, I felt incredibly lucky to be part of this event, which gave me a chance to get to know Mozilla, my team, and the other interns much better. It was a jam-packed work week of talks, meetings, team events, pubs, and parties, and it would be impossible to blog about all of the fun, fascinating, and foxy things I learned and did. But I can at least give you some of the highlights! Or, should I say, Who-lights? (Be warned, that is not the last pun you will encounter here today.)

Foxy, the TARDIS, and espionage in the park? All in a day's work at #MozLondon! pic.twitter.com/QPWdPRnJHY

— Anjana Vakil (@AnjanaVakil) June 14, 2016

I want to mock with you

When writing Python unit tests, sometimes you want to just test one specific aspect of a piece of code that does multiple things.

For example, maybe you’re wondering:

• Does object X get created here?
• Does method X get called here?
• Assuming method X returns Y, does the right thing happen after that?

Finding the answers to such questions is super simple if you use mock: a library which ‘allows you to replace parts of your system under test with mock objects and make assertions about how they have been used.’ Let’s talk about why Mocks are super cool, and some of the tips/tips/trials/tribulations I discovered when starting to use them.

Warming up to Mercurial

When it comes to version control, I’m a Git girl. I had to use Subversion a little bit for a project in grad school (not distributed == not so fun). But I had never touched Mercurial until I decided to contribute to Mozilla’s Marionette, a testing tool for Firefox, for my Outreachy application. Mercurial is the main version control system for Firefox and Marionette development,¹ so this gave me a great opportunity to start learning my way around the hg. Turns out it’s really close to Git, though there are some subtle differences that can be a little tricky. This post documents the basics and the trip-ups I discovered. Although there’s plenty of other info out there, I hope some of this might be helpful for others (especially other Gitters) using Mercurial or contributing to Mozilla code for the first time. Ready to heat things up? Let’s do this!

Outreachy: What? How? Why?

Today was my first day as an Outreachy intern with Mozilla! What does that even mean? Why is it super exciting? How did I swing such a sweet gig? How will I be spending my summer non-vacation? Read on to find out!

Notes from JSUnconf 2016

Or, how I gave my first tech talk (on 3 hours’ notice)

This conference was awesome: not too big, not too cramped of a schedule (long breaks between talk sessions), free drinks, snacks & meals (with vegan options!), unisex bathrooms (toiletries & tampons provided!), a code of conduct, and - most importantly, to me - a great diversity program that gave me and 16 others support to attend! The unconference format was really interesting, and worked better than I expected. It also enabled something I wasn’t planning on: I gave my first talk at a tech conference!