Confidently Testing WordPress @ WordCamp Grand Rapids 2019

Grand Rapids is one of those towns I just can’t get enough of: hot on the heels of Beer City Code 2019, I’m excited to announce I’ll be returning to Grand Rapids for WordCamp Grand Rapids 2019!

I’ll be giving my Confidently Testing WordPress talk, which has been making the rounds this year (it’s almost as if people need a bit of help getting into testing 🤔):

WordPress is a tightly-coupled system, representing over a decade and a half of ideas, decisions, technological shifts, and ideological struggles. There’s a lot of history to be parsed and often the simplest task can have unintended consequences.

Meanwhile, automated testing is one of the best ways to ensure software can be released regularly with high confidence and low risk of regressions. Sadly, the leap from “building WordPress plugins” to “building WordPress plugins with tests” is often viewed as a challenging hurdle. Luckily, there are tools to set up a test harness within an existing codebase with ease.

This talk introduces the fundamentals of automated testing, especially within the context of WordPress. After developing an understanding why automated testing is so critical, attendees will learn how to begin testing their plugins and themes, using features found both in PHPUnit and the WordPress core testing framework, to build and release quality software.

If you’re in the area, WordCamp Grand Rapids never disappoints, and this year’s schedule is looking great!