[Wtr-general] Why Watir Has Bugs, was: Can't install Watir - Error opening file for writing: \watir\AboutItx.chm

[Bret Pettichord]

Željko Filipin wrote:
> On 6/26/07, *Chris McMahon* <christopher.mcmahon at gmail.com 
> <mailto:christopher.mcmahon at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     Far better to have a test tool that actually works, with some non-core
>     tests pointing the way to make it better.  :-)
>
> So true. :)
> (But confusing to new users.)
>
> Zeljko

It is important to understand why this happens.

Watir started out as an experimental project. Some of the features were 
simply proofs of concept, or in reality non-proofs of concept, because 
they did not work reliably. Other parts have been made of commercial 
quality.

I've thought about pulling out some of this experimental functionality 
that works intermittently and whose tests fail intermittently. But a lot 
of people are using this functionality. The best example is the 
javascript popup support. I've actually never used this on my own 
projects, and frankly would rewrite it and make it work more reliably if 
i did. But other people find that they are able to use it in the state 
that it is.

Someday, i plan to take all the marginally working functionally and put 
it in a separate gem. People who want the old functionality can use it. 
And people who want stuff that is very reliable can stick to the core code.

Bret