[openbeos] Re: Things I could do
- From: Zenja Solaja <solaja@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2001 10:42:07 +1000
Hi Anthony, welcome aboard. There is a ton of work which needs to be done,
and not all of it is coding. There are a handfull of constant posters
(guilty) while others are lurking and observing (mainly to see whats
happening, while some may be waiting to make a grand entrance).
Non coding tasks people can be involved in:
1) web design and maintainance
People will regularly visit http://open-beos.sourceforge.net/ to see a
progress update. A little bit of hype can do wonders to morale, so we need
to keep people excited with news updates. Graphics, icons, forums etc, we
need a serious and constantly evolving web page.
2) research and documentation (very important)
Each kit provides functionality which needs to be documented - the BeBook's
scope is very basic, we need to expand the amount of information available.
Since our initial goal is source compatibility (and then binary), which
functions do we have to implement. Where can we find an open source version
(to be used as a template)? What do the function arguments mean?
BeNewsletters are great sources of information, man pages are great, all
this information needs to be collected and sorted into design and
requirements specifications which the development teams will use.
3) Integrity testing is very important, especially for the kernel and
app_server kits. Can you keep the developers on their toes by shredding
their code and uncovering bugs? A minor bug in a small function can be a
nightmare to uncover 2 years later, so we need people to test each module.
Creating code to test other peoples code is an excellent way to beef up your
skills.
4) pestering, motivating and asking "is it done yet?"
Since we've all got day jobs, it can be difficult to be motivated to spend
an extra hour or two every evening on hobbyist projects. We need to inspire
people, produce hype and excitement, because people actually work better
when they're motivated instead of when they're whipped (thats a topic for
Kuro5hin, not here). Working on something you love is a great motivator,
and having people say how great you are is even better.
One final quote I read ages ago on BeDevTalk. Seymoure Cray when asked why
he always hired graduates instead of people with years of experience
answered "Graduates don't know that what I'm asking them to do is
impossible. They'll try anyway." Cray supercomputers were
disproportionatly more innovative than any other company in its time.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Anthony Inzero [SMTP:brownpaperbag@xxxxxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Thursday, August 23, 2001 10:00 AM
> To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [openbeos] Things I could do
>
>
> Hello,
>
> I've been on the IRC channel as cardboard box and I've been just
> thinking about what I could exactly do to help out the project besides
> programming. I've recently completed a C++ course but don't know the BeOS
> API well enough yet to start doing anything. I was going to cut my teeth
> in
> with the BeWINE group but well...we all know what happened.
>
> I can do web pages, nothing fancy mind you. I code entirly in notepad
> and don't have much exp with WYSIWYG editors. It wouldn't be flashy but
> it'd
> work. I'm sure their are others who can do a better job than me though.
>
> I am a great organizer. If I was say, assigned a team of some sorts,
> I'd
> do a good job leading it and organizing it in such a fashion that things
> would get done.
>
> Can't think of much at the moment, thou I prolly can do any oddjob
> that
> comes up. If their s a position to be filled let me know, I might be able
> to
> do it :>
>
> -Anthony J. Inzero
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> NetZero Platinum
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