[sldev] [Policy] C++ N00bs exploring the client source code?

[Rob Lanphier]

On 6/19/08 10:51 AM, Dale Mahalko wrote:
> How do you (Rob / LL staff / and the rest of the SL-Dev professionals)
> feel about relative C++ noobs (*waves!*) jumping headfirst into the
> client source to explore it? Do you prefer that only people with years
> of prior C++ experience try to be involved with the open source
> project? ("Come back when you've actually used a multimap in a
> program!")
>   

Hi Dale,

Please jump in!   Objective questions about how stuff works are very 
welcome, and as long as it's clear you've made a little effort to find 
the answer on your own before getting on list, I don't think anyone has 
a right to get upset about it.  Special bonus points for saying "I 
looked for this information here (<link to wiki page>), but didn't find 
what I was expecting"....and then after the thread concludes, document 
what you learned.  You'll especially endear yourself to the seasoned 
devs here if you do that, and are more likely to get quick answers if 
you get a reputation for being a good documentation writer.

Suggestions for architectural directions are more controversial if 
you're not seasoned with the code.  My personal view is that these can 
be ok too, but there needs to be an escape valve for the conversation.  
That's where the list guidelines about redirecting long threads to some 
other place (JIRA, Wiki or otherwise) become really important.  The 
person starting the thread is in the best position to find the right 
offlist home for the conversation, so picking a good place before even 
starting the thread (and putting it in the initial post) is greatly 
appreciated.

On questions of policy, it's much more important to go offlist fast, 
because many people here are really, really tired of seeing an allegedly 
development-oriented list dominated by policy talk.  In the name of 
practicing what I preach, I think it'd be good to continue this 
conversation here:
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Talk:SLDev
 
You asked an interesting question buried in your original mail that I'm 
going to reply to under separate cover.

> My interest and involvement in the source is mostly because I want the
> VFS expunged, and the overall caching performance improved... but
> since this coding task is apparently not high on anyone else's agenda,
> I guess there's room for a QBASIC / LSL2 / Apple II 6502-assembly
> programmer to explore the issue. (Note, the only thing I've ever
> threaded is a needle.)
>   

This sort of thing is the type of thing that we've discussed a lot 
already, and can be discussed more here:
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Talk:VFS

Rob