Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2001 22:46:13 -0800 From: Doug Barton <DougB@FreeBSD.org> To: Damien Tougas <damien@carroll.com> Cc: Dag-Erling Smorgrav <des@ofug.org>, Tyler K McGeorge <treznor@sunflower.com>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Looking for Yoda Message-ID: <3AAC70B5.B533701D@FreeBSD.org> References: <20010310230724.A292@sprig.tougas.net> <000601c0a9f9$31b88120$103b7c18@palisor.yi.org> <xzp1ys4v3iv.fsf@flood.ping.uio.no> <v04220805b6d1796cec93@[194.78.241.123]> <20010311175629.A368@sprig.tougas.net>
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Damien Tougas wrote:
>
> On Sun, Mar 11, 2001 at 08:20:22PM +0100, Brad Knowles wrote:
>
> > The problem with these PRs is that they assume you're already an
> >experienced programmer, and that you understand the context in which
> >the patch is being made. Unfortunately, those two things are
> >precisely what programmers new to C almost certainly don't have.
> >Even if they're otherwise experienced programmers, simply dumping
> >them in the deep end of the ocean and telling them to "sink or swim"
> >is likely to end up with most of them sinking fairly rapidly.
>
> I have to agree with you. I have looked at these many times with the
> intent that maybe this would be a good place for me to start, but
> never really go very far. There always seemed like there was a very
> high barrier to entry. Perhaps a problem with a SCSI device (which I
> don't have), which deals with the kernel (which I am not ready for),
> and requires that I understand the inner workings of FreeBSD
> intimately (which takes a significant amount of time, even for an
> experienced programmer).
So, the real question is, what exactly would you like us to do? That's not
a flippant response btw... seriously, what would you like us to do? You
can't just jump right in someplace and do, there has to be a background
first. So, in addition to learning C there is an overhead related to
learning the system as well. But what did you expect? The rewards of
learning the system are pretty good, but the costs are high. That is why
there are few unix system hackers, and precious few good ones.
There are several rather deep, ugly PR's in the database, but there are
plenty that can be addressed with a minimum of investment. Beyond that,
suggestions for how we can "lower the bar" for new contributors are
welcome.
Doug
--
Perhaps the greatest damage the American system of education has done
to its children is to teach them that their opinions are relevant
simply because they are their opinions.
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