gh-63882: Comment out empty test_minidom tests

[srinivasreddy]

Given the absence of immediate replacements, this was considered better than deletion.

• Issue: test_minidom has many empty tests #63882

[srinivasreddy]

This is the second item from the action items proposed by @terryjreedy (#63882 (comment))

1. Minidom docstrings issue gh-128508: Add some docstrings to xml.dom.minidom #128477
2. Comment out the empty tests gh-63882: Comment out empty test_minidom tests #128948
3. Test revisions - to be addressed in later pr

[StanFromIreland]

@terryjreedy (I can’t request a review in any other way)

[StanFromIreland]

I think all of them are included. Looks good to me!

[picnixz]

Why are we using ## instead of a simple # for commenting out the test? Is there any plan of actually implementing those tests in the future? can we add some # TODO as well so that we can find them easily in the future?

[StanFromIreland]

@picnixz This was requested by Terry in his comment on the issue. I guess it is easier to find them?

[picnixz]

I think I'll me comfortable with an explicit "TODO" since we also used # CRASH for the test C API to make them easier to find (with a ##, we need to filter out the results but with # TODO, we know that's a TODO).

---

Ok, I've seen that #63882 (comment) is actually the comment that explained the different steps to do (it was hidden by GH). So there's a plan to implement something. If the tests are meant to be implemented in a short future, ## is fine, but if it's not, then maybe # TODO is better.

[terryjreedy]

Double hashes, '##', are an old standard for (temporarily) commenting out code with something other than normal code comments. I added a "# TODO" comment.

[terryjreedy]

Make the first 3 tests 1 line as with all the others.

[hugovk]

These stubs have been present for 25 years, since Python 2.0!
7993bcc

I'd rather see tests added rather than commented out. If not added, let's delete them otherwise I can see these being around until 2050 🙃

Quoting @voidspace:

The same is true for commenting-out code; if a block of commented code is going into a release, it shouldn't exist. If it is code that may be restored, make a ticket and reference the commit hash for the code delete.

https://opensource.com/article/17/5/30-best-practices-software-development-and-testing

[StanFromIreland]

There is actually already a patch that would add some of them: https://bugs.python.org/file33258/issue19683.patch

Tough I am not sure who submitted it.

[hugovk]

Maybe checking the old bpo page helps?

https://bugs.python.org/issue19683

[StanFromIreland]

Some of these tests have been implemented. Surprisingly not a merge conflict.