Comments on: Contributing to open source makes a better developer http://warpspire.com/features/contributing-to-open-source-makes-you-a-better-developer/ my god, it's full of stars Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:46:07 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: kaiser http://warpspire.com/features/contributing-to-open-source-makes-you-a-better-developer/comment-page-1/#comment-184325 kaiser Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:48:48 +0000 http://warpspire.com/?p=286#comment-184325 <p>i don't know know that i can agree completely in regards to comments/cleanliness. an open source project will only be as good as its initial code base from my experience. compare wordpress to movabletype--worlds of difference under the hood. (wordpress looks like it was hacked together by 12 year-olds who just learned php.)</p> <p>to expect a developer to write coherent code for others is a stretch. if they haven't developed that habit/skill for themselves, i can't foresee them possessing that ability, period. that comes with practice.</p> <p>my opinions are skewed partly because i am a perfectionist and take pride in how i write my code, and it's something i constantly work at improving. but i've worked on with other developers enough to believe that they will write how they write, because that's what they're used to. if i wanted a team member to follow a standard i've set in place, i have to explicitly ask them to do it. having my code for them to review/copy isn't always enough.</p> i don’t know know that i can agree completely in regards to comments/cleanliness. an open source project will only be as good as its initial code base from my experience. compare wordpress to movabletype–worlds of difference under the hood. (wordpress looks like it was hacked together by 12 year-olds who just learned php.)

to expect a developer to write coherent code for others is a stretch. if they haven’t developed that habit/skill for themselves, i can’t foresee them possessing that ability, period. that comes with practice.

my opinions are skewed partly because i am a perfectionist and take pride in how i write my code, and it’s something i constantly work at improving. but i’ve worked on with other developers enough to believe that they will write how they write, because that’s what they’re used to. if i wanted a team member to follow a standard i’ve set in place, i have to explicitly ask them to do it. having my code for them to review/copy isn’t always enough.

]]> By: Eric Davis http://warpspire.com/features/contributing-to-open-source-makes-you-a-better-developer/comment-page-1/#comment-180195 Eric Davis Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:41:15 +0000 http://warpspire.com/?p=286#comment-180195 <p>Related to #5, one of the best reasons I love Open Source is the spirit of giving. I've seen people take some code I wrote, add in new features I've never thought of, and give it back to me. It also tends to snowball as the project grows, the more people hacking on the code, the more features you get without having to put the time in yourself.</p> Related to #5, one of the best reasons I love Open Source is the spirit of giving. I’ve seen people take some code I wrote, add in new features I’ve never thought of, and give it back to me. It also tends to snowball as the project grows, the more people hacking on the code, the more features you get without having to put the time in yourself.

]]> By: Joel http://warpspire.com/features/contributing-to-open-source-makes-you-a-better-developer/comment-page-1/#comment-168152 Joel Tue, 28 Oct 2008 04:36:18 +0000 http://warpspire.com/?p=286#comment-168152 <p>Did you forget #3? ;)</p> <p>ps: your tabindex is screwy - tabbing from the content area of the comment to the next logical point (Post Comment) doesn't work :(</p> Did you forget #3? ;)

ps: your tabindex is screwy – tabbing from the content area of the comment to the next logical point (Post Comment) doesn’t work :(

]]> By: Curtis Henson http://warpspire.com/features/contributing-to-open-source-makes-you-a-better-developer/comment-page-1/#comment-165211 Curtis Henson Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:08:34 +0000 http://warpspire.com/?p=286#comment-165211 <p>I absolutely agree, my own experience level was exponentially raised by doing open source projects. A good user base will shine a huge bright light on your design/code and, if your willing to listen, help you improve yourself along with the project.</p> I absolutely agree, my own experience level was exponentially raised by doing open source projects. A good user base will shine a huge bright light on your design/code and, if your willing to listen, help you improve yourself along with the project.

]]> By: Elliot Swan http://warpspire.com/features/contributing-to-open-source-makes-you-a-better-developer/comment-page-1/#comment-150906 Elliot Swan Fri, 03 Oct 2008 07:45:16 +0000 http://warpspire.com/?p=286#comment-150906 <p>You make some great points. I've found #2 to be especially true--your code looks very different when you know that you're writing it for a group of people to use and not just you. Even if you normally write very clean code, it's still a very different mindset to be writing code for another developer to actually use. You have to think about things like extensibility, ease of use, and all sorts of other issues that you really don't consider when the code is only being written for your specific situation.</p> You make some great points. I’ve found #2 to be especially true–your code looks very different when you know that you’re writing it for a group of people to use and not just you. Even if you normally write very clean code, it’s still a very different mindset to be writing code for another developer to actually use. You have to think about things like extensibility, ease of use, and all sorts of other issues that you really don’t consider when the code is only being written for your specific situation.

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