taskwarrior/DEVELOPER

This file is intended to convey the current efforts, priorities and needs of the
codebase.  It is for developers looking for a way to start contributing.


Deprecated Code
  This is code that is going to be phased out soon, and therefore is not worth
  fixing or documenting.  Don't waste your time.

  - There is no deprecated code at the moment.  I'm sure there will be soon.

New Code Needs
  This is code that needs to be written, usually down at the C++ function level.

  - text.cpp extractLines needs to be rewritten in a UTF8-aware and color-code
    sensitive manner.
  - Need a function to accept a list of projects, and return an indented list
    that reflects the hierarchy.  This will likely go into the new 'projects'
    command.  Something like:
      Input  - "one"
               "one.two"
               "one.two.three"
               "one.four"
               "two"
      Output - "one"
               "  one.two"
               "    one.two.three"
               "  one.four"
               "two"
  - Need export_sql.yy script.  Any language.  This would have value as an
    example, or template script serving as a starting-point for anyone who
    needed this format.
  - Need export_viz.yy script.  Any language.  This would have value as an
    example, or template script serving as a starting-point for anyone who
    needed this format.
  - Need new export_xxx.yy scripts - the more the better.  Any language.
  - The JSON.{h,cpp} code is fast and efficient up to a point, but has a non-
    linear performance curve, implying a slowdown due to fragmentation.  Fix it.
    Test rig and sample data available on request.
  - Need a function that can optimize color codes.  For example, if a string
    contains this:
      <red>one two </red><red>three four</red>
    It can be shortened to:
      <red>one two three four</red>
    This is only possible if there is nothing between </red> and <red> and the
    colors match.
  - Make sure the update-holidays.pl script is doing the right thing.

Documentation Needed
  Various forms of documentation that are needed, or are in need of review or
  update.

  - Wiki/How-To: Date Handling
  - Wiki/How-To: Custom Reports, including performance considerations
  - Wiki/How-To: Aliases, particularly new enhanced aliases

Holiday Data Needed
  We are moving the holiday data to http://holidata.net, and providing a
  script that can automatically update taskwarrior holiday files from the
  web.  This allows us to provide corrections and additional data without
  the need for a corresponding taskwarrior release.

  If you can provide regional holiday data, we would be very grateful, and
  ideally it could go up on holidata.net for everyone to share.

Unit Tests Needed
  There are always more unit tests needed.  More specifically, better unit tests
  are always needed.  The convention is that there are four types of unit test:

  1. High level tests that exercise large features, or combinations of commands.
     For example, dependencies.t runs through a long list of commands that test
     dependencies, but do so by using 'add', 'modify', 'done' and 'delete'.
  2. Regression tests that ensure certain bugs are fixed and stay fixed.  These
     tests are named bug.NNN.t where NNN refers to the Redmine issue number.
     While it is not worth creating tests for small fixes like typos, it is for
     changes to the logic.
  3. Small feature tests.  When small features are added, we would like small,
     low-level feature tests named feature.NNN.t, where NNN is the Redmine
     issue number.
  4. Code tests.  These are tests written in C++ that exercise C++ objects, or
     function calls.  These are the lowest level tests.  It is important that
     these kind of tests be extensive and thorough, because the software depends
     on this code the most.

  The tests are mainly written in Perl, and all use TAP.  Here is how to get the
  code and run the test suite:
     git clone git://tasktools.org:task.git
     cd task.git
     cmake .
     make
     make test

  Alternately, you go to the test directory and run the following:

     cd task.git/test
     make
     make test

  Either way, a TAP file 'all.log' is written that contains all test results.
  once this file is created, you can see the failing tests using this script:

    task.git/test/problems

  If you make a habit of running the test suite, consider downloading the
  vramsteg utility to show a nice colorful progress bar, from:

    git://tasktools.org/vramsteg.git     

  Tests needed:

  - The basic.t unit tests are a misnomer, and should be either removed or
    renamed.  We have long talked of 'basic functionality' that includes add,
    delete, done, and list commands.  We need unit tests that prove that basic
    functionality is working, and it should be called basic.t.
  - None of the current unit tests remove the 'extensions' directory, and they
    all should.
  - Need tests of command line expressions.
  - Test propagation of modifications to recurring tasks.
  - Test regex support.
  - Need unit tests for each bug in the issue list, if suitable.

  * Note that running the unit tests require the Perl JSON module to be
    installed.

Work in Progress
  Things that are currently in flux, which is another way of saying leave it
  alone while it is being worked on.

  - The E9.{h,cpp} (Expression) object is being completed and tested.
  - L10N (Localization) is in progress.  This means moving all user-presented
    strings into en-US.h, which is included by i18n.h.  Language selection will
    be a cmake-controlled #define.  This is 86% complete.  This makes
    translation possible, but there is no active project to make this happen.
    It is expected that translation files will trickle in, and create a
    maintenance burden.  We don't know how we're going to deal with this yet.
    They will probably be downloadable files.

Current Codebase Condition

  'master' branch:
    - 1.9.4 release, current, locked.

  '2.0.0' branch:
    - Unit tests passing >99%.
    - DOM access DOM.{h,cpp} not working well.
    - Aiming for a release in 2011, but when it is ready.

---

2011-10-16 Removed obsolete entries, added test suite description.
2011-10-16 Removed obsolete entries.
2011-08-21 Small changes, new work listed.
2011-08-01 Removed code already obsoleted or completed.
2011-07-29 Added more needed code descriptions.
2011-07-27 Updated with holiday data info.
2011-07-25 Created file.