Testing vim scripts

I'm exploring options for testing vim scripts. I'm wondering if I need a tool like Vader or if I can just roll my own using vim from the command line.

I'm using Perl (but it could be any language), and I can do this:

`$path_to_vi -c "normal iLink" -c "normal \r" -c wq ~/vimwiki/output.md`;

Then I can just inspect the contents of output.md with an appropriate test.

Thanks for any tips and advice.