Wikimedia Developer Summit/2016/Software engineering

T119032 - This is the session pad for the Working area focus: Software engineering session, slated to begin at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, January 5th.

Purpose

Figure out how we can simultaneously optimize the following conditions:

make software development more logical and obvious for all Wikimedia contributors
make Wikimedia software more useful and reliable for the Wikimedia sites

In more concrete terms, we want to discuss ways to make making MediaWiki more modular, and by that, making it easier to test, understand, modify, and re-use individual components. The two approaches we want to discuss in particular are SOA and DI - not as alternatives, but as techniques that complement each other.

Agenda

2x10 minutes - introductory presentation(s)
45 minutes - open discussion
10 minutes - wrap up

Some possible topics revolve around refactoring core:

Minutes

Etherpad

https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/WikiDev16-T119032

Goals

For SOA (T114803), we are seeking to

reflect on what we have done in the last two years, and discuss
what went well, and
what did not go so well.

Slides: SOA at Wikimedia - Quo Vadis?

For DI (T384), we are seeking consensus about:

Moving towards a DOA architecture, with (mostly) stateless service objects and (mostly) dumb value objects.
De-coupling services using dependency (constructor?) injection.
Using a service locator / DI container, and how and in how far this should be configurable by extension.
Using or avoiding auto-wiring
Using existing DI frameworks like Pimple, PHP-DI, or Symfony (directly or wrapped)

Chronology

This section is where an attempt is made to capture the gist of who said what, in what order. A transcript isn't necessary, but it's useful to capture the important points made by speakers as they happen.

Session guidelines

This checklist exists to help each session at WikiDev meet the following goals:

Have productive discussion about topics that need face-to-face time

Make progress towards agreement on a solution

Document what was discussed, including areas of agreement and disagreement

Create written list of action items for follow up

Update or create Phabricator tasks as appropriate

Specific tasks:

Assign meeting roles:
Facilitator

Gatekeeper

Scribe

Timekeeper

Facilitator: run session to achieve specific goals.
State or build consensus towards meeting goal and style, referencing one of these meeting types:
Problem-solving: surveying many possible solutions

Strawman: exploring one specific solution

Field narrowing: narrowing down choices of solution

Consensus: coming to agreement on one solution

Education: teaching people about an agreed solution

Identify agenda items and guide discussion to stay on topic

Redirect participants who begin venting or discussing things that can be done online

Scribe(s): Document the session
Copy https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/WikiDev16-YourSession to https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/WikiDev16-[SESSION NAME]

Fill out the information in the template, including
Link to Phabricator task describing session

Goal as described by facilitator

Topics of discussion as laid out by facilitator

Action items and who is responsible for them

Create new Phabricator tasks as needed

At end of session, copy meeting notes into Phabricator as appropriate

Gatekeeper: Actively manage participation
Interrupt people if they are dominating the discussion

Help people who are having difficulty being heard

If the gatekeeper is talking too much, someone else should interrupt them

Timekeeper: Keep track of time left and point out time passing to facilitator
If possible, estimate time for each topic written by scribes

Let people know when a topic has gone over its time

Give a warning when 5-10 minutes are left