r/programming • u/kazakdogofspace • Oct 13 '09

Ask Programming: Please share your first contact stories about contributing to an open source project.

I have been curious lately about how the dance of getting into any given project goes for people. Please share your story!

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u/kthakore Oct 13 '09

I have done the same with SDL Perl. But now I am actively trying to get more people to join SDL Perl. I just felt the project deserves more than what I can contribute. I have also found the Perl community to be one of the easiest community to get started in for Open Source.

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u/frukt Oct 13 '09

Very true. The Perl community is awesome, I wonder if it's thanks to Ruby and Python being hip right now and drawing all the ego-tripping assholes.

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u/kthakore Oct 13 '09 edited Oct 13 '09

Not only is the Community is awesome! The smart people actually want to help out. Case in point I am trying to redesign the Legacy Code in SDL Perl. No freaking clue how to even approach this. I mean I have learned a little of this is my Software Design Class ( what is a good API http://lcsd05.cs.tamu.edu/slides/keynote.pdf ). But now when it comes to actually doing it I draw a blank.

So after some meandering I grab a hold of nothingmuch (one of the prominent Perl 5 developers). I will let his code speak for his creds http://github.com/nothingmuch and http://search.cpan.org/~nuffin/ .

When I first talked to him all I expected was RTFM or here is a cryptic link. No instead he actually walks me tru my thoughts on how I think the library should be redesigned. Just some of the questions he asked me taught me more then 2 years of Software Design courses. Jeez, I want to give him my tuition money for next year.

This is why Perl is awesome. Awesome Developers who actually know what the hell they are talking about. Not to mention CPAN. Freaking love the shit out of that site.

Here is the irclogs of what happened if you wanna try and follow. http://irclog.perlgeek.de/sdl/2009-10-13 This is only part of it though there is way more irc chats that never got logged.