From owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Sun Jun 7 04:33:47 2020 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@mailman.nyi.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2610:1c1:1:606c::19:1]) by mailman.nyi.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CEF2E348DBF for ; Sun, 7 Jun 2020 04:33:47 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kremels@kreme.com) Received: from mail.covisp.net (mail.covisp.net [65.121.55.42]) (using TLSv1.3 with cipher TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (256/256 bits) key-exchange X25519 server-signature RSA-PSS (4096 bits) server-digest SHA256) (Client did not present a certificate) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 49fk6L0q2Sz3W7t for ; Sun, 7 Jun 2020 04:33:44 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from kremels@kreme.com) From: "@lbutlr" Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Subject: Re: Mininal skills Date: Sat, 6 Jun 2020 22:33:43 -0600 References: To: FreeBSD In-Reply-To: Message-Id: X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.3608.80.23.2.2) X-Rspamd-Queue-Id: 49fk6L0q2Sz3W7t X-Spamd-Bar: / Authentication-Results: mx1.freebsd.org; dkim=none; dmarc=none; spf=pass (mx1.freebsd.org: domain of kremels@kreme.com designates 65.121.55.42 as permitted sender) smtp.mailfrom=kremels@kreme.com X-Spamd-Result: default: False [-0.64 / 15.00]; ARC_NA(0.00)[]; NEURAL_HAM_MEDIUM(-0.89)[-0.888]; FROM_HAS_DN(0.00)[]; MISSING_MIME_VERSION(2.00)[]; TO_MATCH_ENVRCPT_ALL(0.00)[]; MIME_GOOD(-0.10)[text/plain]; R_SPF_ALLOW(-0.20)[+mx]; DMARC_NA(0.00)[kreme.com]; RCPT_COUNT_ONE(0.00)[1]; NEURAL_HAM_LONG(-0.92)[-0.917]; TO_DN_ALL(0.00)[]; NEURAL_HAM_SHORT(-0.43)[-0.432]; RCVD_COUNT_ZERO(0.00)[0]; FROM_EQ_ENVFROM(0.00)[]; R_DKIM_NA(0.00)[]; MIME_TRACE(0.00)[0:+]; ASN(0.00)[asn:209, ipnet:65.112.0.0/12, country:US]; MID_RHS_MATCH_FROM(0.00)[]; RCVD_IN_DNSWL_LOW(-0.10)[65.121.55.42:from] X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.33 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 07 Jun 2020 04:33:47 -0000 On 03 Jun 2020, at 15:54, Brandon Helsley = wrote: > I've searched around FreeBSD documentation and have found that most of = the contributions require at least minimal programming skills. My = question is whether or not there is anything I can contribute or = maintain for freebsd without any skills. Documentation. Read it, find errors, find things that seem unclear. The = cosumentation could be quite a lot better in general. > What direction should I take my education if I wish to be able to = maintain a port. Is c++ programming required? What else is required? For ports., most ports are still written in perl, python, and C (not = necessarily in that order), so programming skill in those languages, or = at least the language of the port you want to maintain. Of course, you also need to understand the syntax for Makefile which is = almost a language unto itself. If you are not a programmer and want to be, the best languages to learn = are the languages that are being used right now the most. That would be = python (much as it pains me to say as I really really hate python), = Java, and JavaScript (the last two sound related, but they are not). Sure, there are lots of the languages (rust, go, perl, swift, php, C, = C++, C#, ObjC, etc etc) but when starting off learning, pick to = languages that are current and popular and learn them well. After that, if you need a different language it is relatively easy to = pick it up. If you just want to be a programmer for the sake of making money, learn = COBOL. Even bad COBOL programmers can make US$100,000yr. --=20 I know it all. I just can't remember it simultaneously.