On 12-May-06, at 9:39 AM, Charles D Hixson wrote:

> stéphane ducasse wrote:
>> ...
>>> Is there a real possibility to do this kind of 'step in the dark',
>>> and evolve Squeak for the use in real word, in our everyday jobs...
>>> without losing the community?
>>
>> I really hope but we need to have more people working for squeak and
>> not simply using it (which is already perfect)
>>
>> Stef
>>>
>>> Viktor Svub
> OK.  How experienced does one need to be, and where/how should one
> volunteer?

I wrote a message quite a while ago about how even the newest of new  
newcomers could join in and help.

Basically *anyone* that has a computer capable of running Squeak and  
a little time and web access can do something helpful.  We use Mantis  
to record bugs/problems/feature requests, so one route would be to  
look through the lists (http://bugs.impara.de/main_page.php) and look  
at anything that might pique your interest.

Read the problem description and any notes and see if they make  
sense; can you actually understand what the problem is supposed to  
be? Can you replicate the problem at all? If not, email the original  
reporter to ask if they can help work it out and improve the  
description, or establish that it got fixed in a more recent release.  
A non-problem can be closed, removing clutter. A better problem  
description will help a more experienced user fix it - and you get to  
learn as you help.

If the problem happens to be something you already understand but  
can't see a solution, try to write some test to demonstrate it  -  
just a code snippet helps - and some cases that explain what ought to  
happen if it were fixed. Some bugs are things that people like me  
could fix quickly if only we knew what the correct response was.

If you do know a solution but can't work out how to program it,  
explain the solution. If you think you know who might be able to  
implement your solution ask if they can help you. If you don't know  
who, ask on the list.

I'd bet that pretty much anyone on this list could progress from  
total know-nothing-yet beginner to getting-the-idea apprentice with a  
reputation for being a good contributor in a short time by doing  
nothing more than the above for a couple of reports a week.

It's our system. It only gets better if we put some work into it.

tim
--
tim Rowledge; tim at rowledge.org; http://www.rowledge.org/tim
Quality assurance: A way to ensure you never deliver shoddy goods  
accidentally.