dw_dev_training: To baby devs and lurkers on Windows: there's a brand new guide! well almost brand new...

Ninety Degrees (

ninetydegrees) wrote in

dw_dev_training,
@ 2012-09-19 10:49 pm UTC

Entry tags:

getting started, wiki

To baby devs and lurkers on Windows: there's a brand new guide! well almost brand new...

If you didn't know about it there's a guide for Windows users on the Wiki. I've been updating it for a while and I think it covers all the essentials now (suggestions and constructive criticism are always welcome, though!). I hope it can help you switch to the new system or become a contributor.

If you have questions I will happily try and answer them in the comments or via PMs. If you'd prefer some real-time help, there are some very fine on the #dreamwidth-dev IRC channel willing to provide it.

P.S. Secret message to people who are on Windows and would like to be baby devs but need some handholding to come out of lurking land: you're not alone and there's no shame in needing handholding. I did and still do all the time. Also programming isn't necessarily hard or complicated or scary. Sometimes it's just finding the correct file and changing one little line (and you'd know which one because you know how to read).

P.P.S. Super secret message to Fey and Fu: <33333333333333

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	no subject swaldman 2012-09-19 10:36 pm UTC (link)
	awesome! Thank you for doing this. (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject ninetydegrees 2012-09-20 01:05 pm UTC (link)
	You're welcome! Thanks! (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject woggy 2012-09-19 10:55 pm UTC (link)
	This may well be what I need to get over the hump of 'working on that one bug that has been lurking for six months'. Thanks. :D (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 3 comments) (Show 3 comments)

	no subject ninetydegrees 2012-09-20 01:07 pm UTC (link)
	That would be awesome! You're welcome. Thank you. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 2 comments) (Show 2 comments)

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woggy
2012-09-20 05:51 pm UTC (link)

Hm. Looks like most of the stuff on that wikipage is things I have already done (the git stuff is new; still need to sort that out)

The problem is, as always, taking time to sit down and properly contemplate the code. So many other things to do (and I _do_ code-zen 40hr/wk at work, so doing what feels like more job at home has not been terribly enthralling)

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ninetydegrees
2012-09-20 06:05 pm UTC (link)

Yeah you can directly to http://wiki.dwscoalition.org/wiki/index.php/Newbie_Guide_for_Windows_Users#Set_things_up if you already have installed all the software and only do the first two sections and the first part of the third section.

I see what you mean. I'm lucky my job has nothing to do with IT or programming and doesn't require me spending that much time at my workplace. I don't think it would be as much fun otherwise.

I don't know what you want to work on but little bugs you can fix in very little time or projects you can do in small stages might fit your schedule.

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aedifica
2012-09-20 12:11 am UTC (link)

Sometimes it's just finding the correct file and changing one little line (and you'd know which one because you know how to read).

This is way more true than I ever used to believe. I just did an access-locked post in my own journal about how I did that with some AppleScript today without having ever touched AppleScript before; would it be useful/inspiring if I crossposted that here, do you think? I mean, it's not really on topic for Dreamwidth development, it's Applescript and I did it for work, but it's an example of taking some existing code and making it do what I wanted without even knowing the language.

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	no subject denise 2012-09-20 12:56 am UTC (link)
	I would consider that on topic! It shows how you learn to approach a problem in a strange codebase/strange language. :) (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 3 comments) (Show 3 comments)

	no subject aedifica 2012-09-20 01:16 am UTC (link)
	OK! I'll rewrite it a bit and make it more how I did it (right now it's more "I did this, woo!"), and then post it over here sometime in the next few days. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 2 comments) (Show 2 comments)

	no subject denise 2012-09-20 01:24 am UTC (link)
	Awesome, yay, thank you! (I would really love for people to post things like "how I approach a problem" and "the kind of thought process I go through to fix a bug", that sort of thing, whether it's DW-specific or not. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject aedifica 2012-09-20 03:54 am UTC (link)
	Done! (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject ninetydegrees 2012-09-20 01:11 pm UTC (link)
	Glad to see you posted it! And yeah, I have no formal training at all, have never studied any programming language except HTML once with a book and it's amazing what you can get if you just take the time to read the code. Plus Perl makes it easy. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject kimira 2012-09-20 01:43 am UTC (link)
	Thanks. That was super simple/helpful/straightforward. Hey, this is a random thing, but I can't remember how to change the dw username associated with my dreamhack, as listed here. How would I change that? (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 4 comments) (Show 4 comments)

	no subject denise 2012-09-20 01:48 am UTC (link)
	Email or PM Sophie, or catch her on irc! (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject ninetydegrees 2012-09-20 01:11 pm UTC (link)
	You're welcome. Thanks for the great feedback, kimira! (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject ninetydegrees 2012-09-20 01:16 pm UTC (link)
	Oh wait, I think the answer to that because I did it once. I think it's on http://wiki.dwscoalition.org/wiki/index.php/Dreamhack... Yep! Type `edit-dreamhack-info` in PuTTY. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject kimira 2012-09-21 02:49 am UTC (link)
	Thanks, I had already PMed Sophie and was reminded of that. :) I had done it before but couldn't remember what to do or where it was. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject havocthecat 2012-09-20 04:11 am UTC (link)
	I didn't know there was a guide for Windows users! Thank you! I may delurk more in the future. (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject ninetydegrees 2012-09-20 01:13 pm UTC (link)
	looks at your icon laughs Awesome! Yeah, the shiny isn't always for Mac and Linux users. We can have it too. ;) (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

no subject

kimira
2012-09-22 02:47 am UTC (link)

I'm trying to work on this bug again (changing the customize journal options to use CSS styled layouts instead of tables), and am looking at NavStripChooser.pm atm. I was wondering which styles/settings needed to be in effect in order to have the "custom nav strip colors" option show. I went through all the journal base themes and selected them but none of them made the custom nav strip colors option show up. Are there currently any themes that use custom control strip colors?

(p.s. hmmm, just realized that option does show up for my other dw account, which is using a custom user style/theme. I guess I can try to play around with the html/css on that at least.)

eta again: never mind, I just made myself a custom layer matching the one I use on DW proper for which those options ~do~ show up, and now they show up on my dreamhack as well for that account.

Last edited 2012-09-22 03:54 am UTC

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	no subject ninetydegrees 2012-09-22 07:26 am UTC (link)
	Are there currently any themes that use custom control strip colors? No because they're broken. Everybody does it via CSS instead. There's a bug about this somewhere... Hmm, well, no. I mention it in bug #3977 but there's no real bug about it. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 2 comments) (Show 2 comments)

	no subject kimira 2012-10-12 02:18 pm UTC (link)
	Sorry for the delay, but follow-up question on this: I think I got the styling to look good with CSS except for that part (the controls for the custom control strip colors). Since they're not used anywhere anyway should I just upload what I have as a patch, and disregard that part? (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject ninetydegrees 2012-10-12 03:11 pm UTC (link)
	I think you should, yeah. If it's an issue, the reviewer will mention it. It's easier and faster to get feedback that way. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

	no subject hypatia 2012-09-25 10:46 pm UTC (link)
	i should have some cycles soon to try this stuff out on win8, in case there are weirdnesses specific to the new OS. (Reply to this) (Thread) (Hide 1 comment) (Show 1 comment)

	no subject ninetydegrees 2012-10-12 03:12 pm UTC (link)
	I'm sorry, hypatia. I completely missed your comment. I'm not sure I'll upgrade to Win8 so it'd be awesome. Thank you. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

no subject

kimira
2012-10-12 02:24 pm UTC (link)

Some more newbie questions/comments:

1) Denise just told me about the CLA and I hadn't heard of that and it's not mentioned anywhere on the newbie guide wiki page. Should that probably be mentioned in the steps there before the part where people are told how to submit their code?

2) Is there any way to view a feed of all new Bugzilla bugs as they are posted?

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	no subject ninetydegrees 2012-10-12 02:40 pm UTC (link)
	1) Good idea! I'll add it in. 2) AFAIK there's no feed in Zilla but some Saved Searches might help you -- such as all-unassigned and all-assigned-nopatch-- if you sort them by 'last changed' order You can also create custom advanced searches. It isn't the same as feeds but it helps I believe. (Reply to this) (Thread from start) (Parent)

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