On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 3:20 PM, Daniel Shahaf <d.s_at_daniel.shahaf.name> wrote:
> Stefan Sperling wrote on Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 15:10:57 +0100:
>> On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 03:32:24PM +0200, Daniel Shahaf wrote:
>> > Stefan Sperling wrote on Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 10:27:24 +0100:
>> > > In particular note these two sections:
>> > > http://subversion.apache.org/docs/community-guide/general.html#code-to-read
>> > > http://subversion.apache.org/docs/community-guide/general.html#patches
>> > > I found those two very valuable when I started out contributing to Subversion.
>> > >
>> >
>> > To be fair, #code-to-read has a mile-long list of header files, and I'm
>> > not sure that all of them are needed right away :)
>>
>> I did in fact spend a couple of days reading through them all before
>> I started writing any code. It did help a lot.
>
> The doc comments, sure. But the text sounds like it says "Read every
> docstring in those files", which isn't a good idea... (and IMO isn't as
> useful as reading the relevant notes/ files, where they exist)
I agree. That particular section was one of the major barriers for me
before getting started (well, apart from learning C, that is ;-)). I
almost gave up while stuck in read-mode ... Some people (like me) just
can't get any further before they have read and understood every
single line metioned there (and other files which are referred to from
the file being referred to, and so on ... until you've read half the
internet :-)). I admit I have punted on some of those ...
I think it would be better to get the big picture first, and then to
zoom in as quickly as possible to the area you're interested in, and
start experimenting. Trying to get your hands dirty as soon as
possible (diving into the code), while looking up stuff you don't
understand on a "need-to-understand" basis.
I think the community guide would benefit greatly from a refactoring
in this area, with the goal of lowering the barrier for potential
committers ... (though I admit I don't really have the time to have a
go at such a "refactoring" myself right now).
Cheers,
--
Johan
Received on 2011-02-22 16:06:08 CET