This week I finally got around to something I had been putting off for a very long time: An actual backend UI for my team members to generate voucher codes by themselves without me having to manually fiddle with the database or APIs. In a limited form, this UI has existed before. But over time we added more and more parameters to the voucher system that weren’t part of the UI. And because we generate such “special” codes fairly rarely, it wasn’t that big of a deal. But recently, we’ve had more need for this so I decided that it was about time to spend a couple of hours to finally get it done!
This was followed by a bunch of administrative craziness concerning labour contracts and German laws and regulations around that subject. I’ll stop right here and not delve any deeper…or I’ll go mad 
Much more useful and productive: I continued working on my current “side-project” of improving the data research and testing process. To that end, I set up an actual Git repository not unlike the kind we use for AirlineSim’s codebase. Now we’re experimenting with how and whether data research and management could work using such a repository. The nice thing about this is that each and every change is tracked and that we can run data validations automatically on each such change. We can even semi-automatically deploy changes to our test server. More on this to follow soon.
Last but not least, I actually got started on (by far) the largest project of the year: Integrating the Distribution System we build for the AirlineSim Technology Demonstrator into legacy AirlineSim. Or rather preparing the work on said integration: First, I had to dust off some really really old legacy test code that hadn’t been used with current-generation AirlineSim in a very long time. I didn’t care for the particular tests, to be honest. But I wanted and had to get a working setup for integration testing up and running before even thinking about touching any of the actual code. Keep in mind that the goal is to keep the ORS working indefinitely and add bits and pieces of the DS over time. Can’t do that without constantly ensuring that both new and old stuff keep working after every change that’s made.