On Thursday, 27 February 2014 at 22:25:27 UTC, Brad Roberts wrote:
> On 2/27/14, 2:03 PM, Craig Dillabaugh wrote:
>> On Thursday, 27 February 2014 at 21:59:37 UTC, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
>>> On 2/27/14, 1:42 PM, Craig Dillabaugh wrote:
>>>>
>>>> In that case, as Yoda would say:
>>>>
>>>> Volunteer to prepare GSoC 2015 proposal I shall.
>>>>
>>>> Do you have copies of past submissions as a guideline, or is it just
>>>> what is on the Wiki.
>>>
>>> Congratulations and good luck! Stay tuned to the general GSoC process
>>> and I hope you'll be around in December :o).
>>>
>>> Google doesn't save past submissions. We have our older gsoc pages on
>>> dlang.org and the wiki. I think Walter saved some form data.
>>>
>>>
>>> Andrei
>>
>> I will try to keep an eye on what the successful projects do this
>> summer, that may give me so ideas.
>
> Also, keep in mind that GSoC is pretty much two things:
>
> 1) a nice little pay check for students
> 2) a bit of structure around getting work done
>
> We can still do #2 without #1.  And we don't need google to make it happen.  How about trying a practice run despite not having google tossing in the funding?

So you mean D Summer of Code?

I had actually been thinking of proposing having a D mentoring
program.  Similar to:

https://community.kde.org/Getinvolved/development
(at the bottom)

Experienced D developers, who feel they could use
on a specific project, or who would be otherwise interested in
taking on an 'apprentice' could list projects they would like
to see someone take on.  Interested developers could browse
through and see if any of the proposed projects piqued their
interest.

However, that doesn't entirely fulfill #2 in your list.
The 'student' needs some motivation to complete the project
I suppose.  Perhaps a DConf T-shirt autographed by Walter and
Andrei or something :o)

On Thursday, 27 February 2014 at 22:25:27 UTC, Brad Roberts wrote:
> We can still do #2 without #1.  And we don't need google to make it happen.  How about trying a practice run despite not having google tossing in the funding?

If someone would want to contribute, what would be the right person to contact, or the right resource to turn to ?

I was looking to fix a (probably simple) bug in DMD but it's quite hard to grok (http://www.prowiki.org/wiki4d/wiki.cgi?DMDSourceGuide helps but it's a bit outdated).
Also, searching contributing in the wiki only yield GDC / LDC links.

On Thursday, 27 February 2014 at 18:47:37 UTC, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
> For better or worse Walter and I are the bottlenecks on a lot of D-related stuff.

I would really like to help with this, and (I think) others would too.

The ideas for GSoC 2015 could start now.  I took the liberty of adding the ideas page (http://wiki.dlang.org/GSOC_2015_Ideas).  Add your ideas today!  Deadlines, call for mentors, link to GSoC application instructions should all be added now, if possible.

Help me help you:
The recent "CONTRIBUTING.md" for DLang.org helped me make a few updates to neglected areas of the website, and I have more coming.

The GDC Project Ideas page (http://wiki.dlang.org/GDC/ProjectIdeas) helped me add a little value to that project.  I revisit it periodically to find out "What can I do today?"

I realize the last thing you need is another suggestion, but perhaps something like these could be created for the D effort as a whole.  For example, what needs to be done to help prepare for DConf 2014?

Mike

P.S. Forgive me if all this has been beaten to death before. My sincere thanks for all you and Walter have done to give us D.  I'm hoping for a career changer with this language.  God knows I need one.

On Thursday, 27 February 2014 at 23:21:29 UTC, Craig Dillabaugh wrote:
> https://community.kde.org/Getinvolved/development
> (at the bottom)
>
> Experienced D developers, who feel they could use
> on a specific project, or who would be otherwise interested in
> taking on an 'apprentice' could list projects they would like
> to see someone take on.  Interested developers could browse
> through and see if any of the proposed projects piqued their
> interest.

IMO this is EXACTLY what this effort needs.  I don't know what happened to the apprenticeship custom, but it needs a comeback...badly.  This is a great idea.  The apprentices this year will likely become the mentors of next year, and it will only accelerate.

Make a wiki page to get started.  Post an announcement.  People may be apprehensive at first, but I think it will catch on.  If it doesn't, no harm done.

> However, that doesn't entirely fulfill #2 in your list.
> The 'student' needs some motivation to complete the project
> I suppose.  Perhaps a DConf T-shirt autographed by Walter and
> Andrei or something :o)

I would do it simply for the benefit of education.  Lord knows it'd be a better return on my investment than an overpriced university.  It would also help my career to say that I worked under some of the prominent names in this community.

Mentors would benefit as well.  I'm sure Iain would love some help doing the 2.065.0 merge, yes?  They would learn some valuable leadership skills as well, and may actually enjoy the experience.  I greatly enjoyed the little mentoring I've done in my career.

I can only see good things coming out of such an effort, if it takes hold.  It's a superb idea.

Mike

On Friday, 28 February 2014 at 01:02:11 UTC, Mike wrote:
> On Thursday, 27 February 2014 at 18:47:37 UTC, Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
>> For better or worse Walter and I are the bottlenecks on a lot of D-related stuff.
>
> I would really like to help with this, and (I think) others would too.
>
> The ideas for GSoC 2015 could start now.  I took the liberty of adding the ideas page (http://wiki.dlang.org/GSOC_2015_Ideas).  Add your ideas today!  Deadlines, call for mentors, link to GSoC application instructions should all be added now, if possible.
>
> Help me help you:
> The recent "CONTRIBUTING.md" for DLang.org helped me make a few updates to neglected areas of the website, and I have more coming.
>
> The GDC Project Ideas page (http://wiki.dlang.org/GDC/ProjectIdeas) helped me add a little value to that project.  I revisit it periodically to find out "What can I do today?"
>
> I realize the last thing you need is another suggestion, but perhaps something like these could be created for the D effort as a whole.  For example, what needs to be done to help prepare for DConf 2014?
>
> Mike
>
> P.S. Forgive me if all this has been beaten to death before. My sincere thanks for all you and Walter have done to give us D.  I'm hoping for a career changer with this language.  God knows I need one.

Thanks for setting up the idea's page for GSoC 2015, that is a start.
As you suggested it would be good to have a general "Help Wanted" page, possibly with links to willing mentors.   It would seem to add some
such thing to the Wiki, possibly under the "Get Involved" section, then
role some of these ideas into the GSoC projects.

On 2/27/14, 3:22 PM, Mathias LANG wrote:
> On Thursday, 27 February 2014 at 22:25:27 UTC, Brad Roberts wrote:
>> We can still do #2 without #1.  And we don't need google to make it
>> happen.  How about trying a practice run despite not having google
>> tossing in the funding?
>
> If someone would want to contribute, what would be the right person to
> contact, or the right resource to turn to ?

Probably kickstarter or similar would be a good possibility for well-defined projects of broad interest.

Andrei

On 2/27/14, 3:21 PM, Craig Dillabaugh wrote:
> On Thursday, 27 February 2014 at 22:25:27 UTC, Brad Roberts wrote:
>> On 2/27/14, 2:03 PM, Craig Dillabaugh wrote:
>>> On Thursday, 27 February 2014 at 21:59:37 UTC, Andrei Alexandrescu
>>> wrote:
>>>> On 2/27/14, 1:42 PM, Craig Dillabaugh wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> In that case, as Yoda would say:
>>>>>
>>>>> Volunteer to prepare GSoC 2015 proposal I shall.
>>>>>
>>>>> Do you have copies of past submissions as a guideline, or is it just
>>>>> what is on the Wiki.
>>>>
>>>> Congratulations and good luck! Stay tuned to the general GSoC process
>>>> and I hope you'll be around in December :o).
>>>>
>>>> Google doesn't save past submissions. We have our older gsoc pages on
>>>> dlang.org and the wiki. I think Walter saved some form data.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Andrei
>>>
>>> I will try to keep an eye on what the successful projects do this
>>> summer, that may give me so ideas.
>>
>> Also, keep in mind that GSoC is pretty much two things:
>>
>> 1) a nice little pay check for students
>> 2) a bit of structure around getting work done
>>
>> We can still do #2 without #1.  And we don't need google to make it
>> happen.  How about trying a practice run despite not having google
>> tossing in the funding?
>
> So you mean D Summer of Code?
>
> I had actually been thinking of proposing having a D mentoring
> program.  Similar to:
>
> https://community.kde.org/Getinvolved/development
> (at the bottom)
>
> Experienced D developers, who feel they could use
> on a specific project, or who would be otherwise interested in
> taking on an 'apprentice' could list projects they would like
> to see someone take on.  Interested developers could browse
> through and see if any of the proposed projects piqued their
> interest.
>
> However, that doesn't entirely fulfill #2 in your list.
> The 'student' needs some motivation to complete the project
> I suppose.  Perhaps a DConf T-shirt autographed by Walter and
> Andrei or something :o)

Call it whatever you want.. Ideally it's not a specific one time (or recurring) event, but rather the normal way development happens. Someone wants to help, so they do.  There's already appropriate mailing lists / forums / newsgroups for interaction.  There's lots of work to be done.  What's needed is people to step up.  Adding a little structure and making it known that the help is available is all good and would likely help tip more people from thinking about it into doing it.

The appropriate forum / mailing lists:
    dmd-internals
    D-runtime
    phobos
    D.gnu
    digitalmars.D.ldc

All of which are available via forum.dlang.org or lists.puremagic.com. All of which contain multiple people who are generally very eager to help.

Following bug reports and pull requests and watching how fixes and changes are made is also a pretty good way to learn about the code base.  If the commits and code changes don't make sense, feel free to ask the submitter (via private email or publicly on the appropriate forum, preferably the latter) to help explain the change -- chances are more comments would be useful to more than just the asker.

As to motivation, personally, I'm not sure we want someone who isn't self motivated.  That said, I recognize that sometimes it takes a little something extra to incent getting past the learning curve which can be daunting for any project.  I find that financial incentives, like GSoC, tend to attract that disappear shortly after the incentive is removed. The group of people that contribute today are all volunteers, up to and including Walter and Andrei.  Some have agreements with their employers to spend work time in various amounts, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

My 2 cents,
Brad

On 27/02/2014 22:25, Brad Roberts wrote:
> Also, keep in mind that GSoC is pretty much two things:
>
> 1) a nice little pay check for students
> 2) a bit of structure around getting work done

I would say it's one more thing too: Being able to say you participated in GSoC (for your resume/credentials, or just bragging rights). For a student and future graduate, I would say that is valuable, for some students perhaps even more than the monetary rewards.

-- 
Bruno Medeiros
https://twitter.com/brunodomedeiros

I am quite sure I will have time for this, next year. We'll keep in touch.

On Tuesday, 4 March 2014 at 11:13:32 UTC, Dejan Lekic wrote:
>
> I am quite sure I will have time for this, next year. We'll keep in touch.

I had also expressed and interest in helping out with this, as had at least one other poster (Mike I think).  While 2015 is still a good way off perhaps we should come up with a plan as to how we can work together so as not to duplicate effort.

I always access these forums through the web-interface.  Is there a way to look up the email addresses of my fellow posters?