How to help ?

[Karl Forner]

Hi all,

I'd really like to try helping developing Perl6 and Parrot, I subscribed to
the mailing-list, read some docs, got and compiled
parrot via svn (in a vmware-played ubuntu ;-) ).
But it is not obvious to see where to begin, and where I can be useful.

My main objective is to have a fast, reliable and with good threading
support interpreter.

I have written a lot of perl code (APIs, scripts, CGIs, applications,
Inline::C), I can program and optimize in C,
and I have a good understanding of algorithmics.

Any help greatly appreciated

Karl

P.S
I suppose that I'm not the only one willing to help facing this difficulty.
Maybe a tutorial or a FAQ could attract more contributors ?

[Bernhard Schmalhofer]

Karl Forner schrieb:

>Hi all,
>
>I'd really like to try helping developing Perl6 and Parrot, I subscribed to
>the mailing-list, read some docs, got and compiled
>parrot via svn (in a vmware-played ubuntu ;-) ).
>
>

Welcome Karl.

>But it is not obvious to see where to begin, and where I can be useful.
>
>My main objective is to have a fast, reliable and with good threading
>support interpreter.
>
>I have written a lot of perl code (APIs, scripts, CGIs, applications,
>Inline::C), I can program and optimize in C,
>and I have a good understanding of algorithmics.
>

Where you want to contribute mostly depends on your interests.

The obvious starting points are the documentation and the testing.
I suppose that there is a fair amount of obsolete or incorrect info in
the docs.
Try to understand the docs and put your fingers in the sore places.
Ask the questions that are not answered.

As you are interested in threading, try to improve the test coverage of
threads testing.

There is quite a number of abondoned language projects. If you are
interested in
language implementation, don't be shy and pick one up.
I give you 'm4' if you are interested.

Another starting point are the PMCs. Find the edge cases where they break.

A good place to hang out is #parrot at irc.pobox.com.

>P.S
>I suppose that I'm not the only one willing to help facing this difficulty.
>Maybe a tutorial or a FAQ could attract more contributors ?
>
>
>

Yes.

Hoping that this helps,
Bernhard

[Allison Randal]

On Feb 20, 2006, at 9:56, Bernhard Schmalhofer wrote:
>
>> P.S
>> I suppose that I'm not the only one willing to help facing this
>> difficulty.
>> Maybe a tutorial or a FAQ could attract more contributors ?
>>
> Yes.

In fact, this may be the best place you can start, even if it's only
in the form of "here's a list of things I wish I knew starting out".
It's difficult to see the code from that perspective after working on
it for a few years (I know, I've tried), so your view can be a big help.

And always feel free to ask questions.

Allison

[Karl Forner]

I was expecting this kind of answer (Just Do It) ;-)

Where/How could I add this kind of FAQ ?

And always feel free to ask questions.

Thanks
Karl

[Allison Randal]

On Feb 20, 2006, at 16:21, Karl Forner wrote:
>
> I was expecting this kind of answer (Just Do It) ;-)
>
> Where/How could I add this kind of FAQ ?

Write a draft, post it here for comments. Then polish it up and if it
looks good, one of us will commit it.

What you add may fit as a patch to docs/gettingstarted.pod or docs/
intro.pod, but it may end up being something separate (or a
replacement for one or both of them, or a merge of the two with
additions). There's always room for improvement, so suggest what
makes the most sense to you and we'll go from there.

Allison