Re: Programmer for hire
On Tuesday 07 October 2003 08:41, Bob Tilley (AT&T) wrote:
> I would like to wet my feet in the Open Source pool. Can anyone suggest
> any needy Projects? I can do C, C++, Pascal, Assembly, etc. and would like
> to put my talents to work to give something back to the Community that has
> given my desktop so much.
As someone that has contributed in (very) small ways to several different open
source projects, I can tell you that your approach, while well-meaning, is
almost definetly the wrong way 'round. A much better way is to look at your
desktop, figure out what you use the most, pick something in that app that is
lacking, and fix it. Rinse, repeat, until you find a project that 'clicks'.
The problem with just going with a 'needy' project (and in open source, *all*
projects need more programmers, thus making this somewhat moot) is that it is
difficult to sustain the drive needed to actually help, when working on a
program that you never use. Case in point: my level of involvement in kpilot
dropped of dramatically (to nothing) when I started syncing my handspring to
my ibook, and stopped using my linux box. Same with kmamerun (not using mame
much anymore), and umbrello (no longer diagramming things), and etc....
So, if you think kate's code folding abilities leave something to be desired,
or kdevelop would be a lot nicer with objc support, or k3b could use a way to
automatically convert videos for vcds, then go forth and do! And absolutely
the best of luck. We need all the help we can get :-)
D.A.Bishop
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