TestFest is that time of year when developers donate a little bit of their time to increasing the test coverage of PHP. PHP is one of the fastest running and simplest languages to scripting languages in the world and has grown in popularity over the years. Therefore with TestFest, hundreds of thousands coders are working together to assemble and improve one of the best languages in the world.
The goal, although lofty is to ensure that very few bugs will make it in to the releases and those that get through will be quickly rectified. This goal can only be achieved by a complex system of tests designed to continuously evaluate and maintain the language.
The QA team responsible for TestFest 2009 has been working tirelessly to ensure that everyone who participates has a pleasant and enjoyable experience. Some of the improvements made for this year include a Subversion repository for test storage and tracking, a virtual machine for simple test environment setup and most importantly improved documentation of testing procedures.
This year over 20 user groups spanning Belgium, Catalonia, Brazil, Germany, France, Canada, Norway, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, USA, UK and Peru have already registered. This in itself is a testament to the popularity of the language.