This course will become read-only in the near future. Tell us at community.p2pu.org if that is a problem.
This is an introduction to contributing to the open source platform that P2PU runs on: Lernanta. Lernanta is based on (also referred to as a fork of) Mozilla's Batucada project and is a Python/Django web application whose code is on GitHub.
We'll walk through the whole process together from getting the code, running it locally, finding a bug to fix, fixing the bug, and contributing the fix to the Lernanta project. Please see full description for more information.
Introduction to the group and each other
Communication
Try to use this platform as much as possible to complete this challenge. Help is also available via the p2pu-dev IRC channel and p2pu-dev mailing list, but more on that later.
Lernanta
Lernanta is the platform used to run the P2PU site. We are building on the codebase from Batucada, a rewrite of drumbeat.org by Mozilla. It uses Python, Django, Javascript, HTML, and CSS.
Writing Task: (Please post as a comment.)
What operating systems or programming experience do you have?
How do you wish to contribute to Lernanta? Contribute to the code? Run your own instance? Help with translation?
Also, how do you define open source? If you have good links, that's great. If you have experience, please share it. What are its strengths and weaknesses? Especially from the viewpoint of someone new?
Links:
I've used WIndows XP, WIndows 7, Puppy Linux, and Ubuntu.
I'm not sure if the second question is still relevant... This group seems to have started some time ago, without closing.
Open source is a great idea for the most part. It seems to be better for programmers and people who like to take things apart and put them back together again than for the typical end-user of computer software.
What operating systems and experiences you have...
Experience using: Windows 95 -> Virtual Windows 7, Ubuntu & Puppylinux
Is giving a week to each of the tasks except for coding good at one week?
It's good, I think most people would like more time with coding.
Also, how do you define open source?
Open Source is: People making other peoples lives easier by not automatically requiring a monetary embezzlement to use their software. But not only that! Allowing you, the user, to contribute back to that software via bug reports, or even coding if you decide you really might be able to help in that way.
What are its strengths and weaknesses? Especially from the viewpoint of someone new?
Strengths, it will never die. You get a modicum of control over your computer (depending on your skill-level.) But, it's harder for non-programmers like me to delve into the mysteries because they haven't learnt the basics of programming properely.
Hi All,
What operating systems and experiences you have?:Windows,Linux.Mostly I work with WIndows and Linux for experimenting Things.
Good Experience in Java.
Is giving a week to each of the tasks except for coding good at one week?
Yes
About open source: Open source is Source for Openess and platform to work for the People and explore new avenues
Hi all,
What operating systems and experiences you have?: Linux and Mac mainly; Windows when I need to test something on IE.
Is giving a week to each of the tasks except for coding good at one week? Don't think this is relevant anymore as the course is not running right now.
About open source: For me the biggest strength is from a learning perspective. Some projects are or really good quality and you can learn more from them than in work or in Uni.
What operating systems and experiences you have, if you haven't already listed it in your introductory message on the sign-up task.
Mac OS X, and Linux (most recently, Ubuntu)
Is giving a week to each of the tasks except for coding good at one week?
Yes
Also, how do you define open source? If you have good links, that's great. If you have experience, please share it. What are its strengths and weaknesses? Especially from the viewpoint of someone new?
My definition of open-source is that the source code is available to view, and that there are no legal restrictions that prevent someone from taking the software, modifying it and using and distributing it.
The biggest strength I see is that it allows small projects that may neve be completed by a single developer to be taken up by others over time.
The biggest weakness I have seen is that there is not always a clear answer as to who is has decision making authority for a project.
What operating systems and experiences you have, if you haven't already listed it in your introductory message on the sign-up task.
Windows, OSX, IOS, Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian
C++, C, Java, Objetive-C, Ruby, PHP
Is giving a week to each of the tasks except for coding good at one week?
Yes.
Also, how do you define open source? If you have good links, that's great. If you have experience, please share it. What are its strengths and weaknesses? Especially from the viewpoint of someone new?
Open source projects are ones where the source code is freely available and the community is encouraged to participate in working on it. I think the biggest strength is that developers from all over the world can work to improve the code. This means you get people with different perspectives who will think of different things when programming. You don't get this when you have a set team working on a project. One weakness is that open source projects are not always very well documented, so it's intimidating for new people to get involved.
I've been using for the past 3 years and I also have XP on another partition (just for Photoshop and AOE)
`What operating systems and experiences you have, if you haven't already listed it in your introductory message on the sign-up task.
I use Windows XP Home ed. Also I can run Ubuntu via VMware emulator. As far as experience i would consider myself novice, basic HTML and a bit of C.
`Is giving a week to each of the tasks except for coding good at one week?
Sure I have no problems with this.
`Also, how do you define open source? If you have good links, that's great. If you have experience, please share it. What are its strengths and weaknesses? Especially from the viewpoint of someone new?
I would define open-source as a colabrative effort to enhance unrefined items. The strengths and weakness seem to parallel. Open source uses input from multiple parties to test, profread, adjust, etc. to produce a item that should be perfect. Teamwork is the strength, but the possible lack there of, is its weakness.
Professionally I've worked with Debian/Ubuntu but use have a Mac at home.
Open source is the allowing others to build on your work. Open source strengths are transparency, gratuity and diversity. It's weaknesses are a it's not user-oriented, it lacks a vision and leadership.
What operating systems and experiences you have, if you haven't already listed it in your introductory message on the sign-up task.
I have Windows 7 and Ubuntu Lucid Lynx installed. Linux systems are my primary development environments. I have about 2 years development experiences(web + non-web).
Is giving a week to each of the tasks except for coding good at one week?
It's good for me since I'll be mainly working in the weekends.
Also, how do you define open source? If you have good links, that's great. If you have experience, please share it. What are its strengths and weaknesses? Especially from the viewpoint of someone new?
I would define open source projects as projects that promote community efforts by alllowing the source code to be freely obtainable and actively integrating modifications made by community members. I find joining open source projects as a clueless newbie can be discouraging from time to time. Some smaller projects simply don't have the kind of documentations needed to guide self-starters. Some larger open source projects have friendly welcoming documentations. But some point along the way, one might run into problems that the documents don't cover and the mailing-list/irc channel doesn't respond to. On the plus side, a well-organized project can be a wonderful way for one to acquire and apply new skills.
Hopefully you find Lernanta to be one of those projects that has good documentation and active help :) We've seen people ask for help on IRC and the mailing list and here. Welcome!
I think Lucid's been tested with the documentation but I haven't seen a Windows 7 guide yet. If you decide to develop on Windows, we'd really appreciate a guide :)
I also tend to do most of my work on the weekends too!
I'm going to get things working on my Ubuntu first since the Win7 laptop is primarily my "entertainment" computer ;). I can certainly try to set up a envrionment on Win7 when I get a grip on this project, just for fun.
What operating systems and experiences you have, if you haven't already listed it in your introductory message on the sign-up task.
I'm a Ubuntu kind of person but i'm stuck with Windows XP because it isn't my laptop.
experiences with programming not really, do i want to become great at it? Yes
Is giving a week to each of the tasks except for coding good at one week?
Fair enough
Also, how do you define open source? If you have good links, that's great. If you have experience, please share it. What are its strengths and weaknesses? Especially from the viewpoint of someone new?
two different open source definition:
from what i get, Open Source like it says free/open source code viewing but not necessarily the application it creates.
i use DD-wrt on my wireless router and i don't see the source code for their lastest development but yet the firmware is available to the public free
Another Ubuntu person! Hello! I run Ubuntu on vmplayer (free) on a Windows XP machine when I want to do some P2PU/Lernanta development. I don't think anyone's written a guide for those that are developing on Windows so that might be the easiest option. However, if you want to work through it and write it up, that'd be great!
Jumping in to an open source project can be a great way to develop your programming skills. There are also a few Python programming groups on P2PU if you would like to take that as well. There's also one about Django starting hopefully soon.
Again, welcome!
What operating systems and experiences you have, if you haven't already listed it in your introductory message on the sign-up task.
My computer, actually, netbook, runs on Ubuntu Lucid Lynx. I used to have Jolicloud in it but removed it because it's too slow. Not that Jolicloud is slow - I don't think that. I just think that my netbook is not a perfect match for Jolicloud. I also have access to Windows computers.
Is giving a week to each of the tasks except for coding good at one week?
I'm not sure I understand that question but if it asks me if I can give a week to each task, then I definitely can.
Also, how do you define open source? If you have good links, that's great. If you have experience, please share it. What are its strengths and weaknesses? Especially from the viewpoint of someone new?
Open source to me means the opensharing of knowledge in the hope that in can improve the world in more ways than one. I believe that it has a lot of strengths, collaboration being one of them. As for weaknesses, I don't think I've seen any yet. More minds working to reach one goal can only make reaching that goal far easier and in a way better manner.
Welcome to the group! Most of the installation instructions have been tested on Maverick (10.10) though a few are running Natty. I think at least one has installed on Lucid. Hopefully everything goes well. If not, please post a message to the group so we can figure it out together!
Yes, I meant if one week per assignment was alright. If you finish a task before the week is up, feel free to move on to the next! You don't have to wait.
What operating systems and experiences you have, if you haven't already listed it in your introductory message on the sign-up task.
Currently I'm using a Macbook and I'm generally comfortable on the Unix command line and in Windows x[\.x]
Is giving a week to each of the tasks except for coding good at one week?
Yes.
Also, how do you define open source? If you have good links, that's great. If you have experience, please share it. What are its strengths and weaknesses? Especially from the viewpoint of someone new?
For me open source is an ackwoledgement that we can achieve as much by sharing as by competing with each other. It is also a new way of organising people to work and I'm very interested in that aspect. The strengths are: that it is usually free as in free beer, it is highly customisable and innovative. The weaknesses are that it can be hard to use or get involved, the ideas and philosophy behind open source software are not always well comunicated or understood.
Thanks to Julia, we have a Mac installation walkthrough now!
https://github.com/p2pu/lernanta/wiki/Setting-up-the-development-environment-on-Mac
Welcome to the group :)
What operating systems and experiences you have, if you haven't already listed it in your introductory message on the sign-up task.
Traditionally windows but am fairly comfortable with the basics of Linux, and will be using my ubuntu laptop for anything to do with Lernanta. I just find that some of the hoops you have to go through with Windows to be a bit painful. I've been working on straight html/css websites since about 2000, and Drupal for about 7 years. I can work both front and backend tasks, at least with Drupal. I do have version control experience having used cvs, svn and a bit with bzr. Never worked in python and have very little git experience. I'm working through a google python course at the moment: http://code.google.com/edu/languages/google-python-class/index.html
Is giving a week to each of the tasks except for coding good at one week?
Seems reasonable.
Also, how do you define open source? If you have good links, that's great. If you have experience, please share it. What are its strengths and weaknesses? Especially from the viewpoint of someone new?
Like Julia, I'm also part of the Drupal community, and the community around Drupal always astounds me - how much it has grown and how much it has accomplished. So I'd cite this as one area of strength for many open source projects. Weaknesses: there is often a lack (or shortage) of paid support options for open source projects, and while developers can fix things themselves, non-developers have to wait around for others to fix issues, and it can take a while - so I'd say it favours the more technically inclined. Those with a less technical background often find it difficult to use open source tools, to learn, to participate or contribute.
There are some useful lessons on working with an open source community in this blog from one of the team that was working on the Drupal.org redesign: http://www.disambiguity.com/?s=drupal If you have time, you may want to start round about page 14 and move to the first page to follow her journey chronologically. In this post she talks about how and this one about social skills required when working within an open source community. I think I've gone off on a tangent now ;-)
Speaking of documentation, are there concrete Lernanta developer/user docs yet? If not, it's a great project to get started!
Great question, Joe. So far I've mostly seen the wiki and such. I think the focus for Help has been the OSQA application (http://qa.p2pu.org/). I think Alison (http://new.p2pu.org/en/alison/) has been in charge of documentation but I'm quite a bit fuzzy on everyone's role. Julia can contact Alison or Philipp (http://new.p2pu.org/en/Philipp/) to see about what documentation needs to be written.
It looks like the documentation tag in the bug tracker is "inline documentation" but mostly is contact page information and terms of service: http://p2pu.lighthouseapp.com/projects/71002-lernanta/tickets?q=tagged%3A%22inline+documentation%22
We can definitely expand on that.
Our old site is in Drupal and we're migrating off of it in July, I believe. I'm not sure if there are any "need fixing now" bugs in the Drupal site that that developer needs help with. I can check and let you know.
We definitely need help with the new code (Lernanta/new.p2pu.org)! I replied to Joe's reply about documentation but even just looking through the text and giving suggestions [1] on how it could be more understable would be helpful.
Welcome to the party! There was a new release today so we're back in development mode for the next 2 weeks. Plenty of time to see your commits in :)
[1] either on developer mailing list or filing bugs and then working on them
If I find things in the backlog of Shaping P2PU that seem to be "high level design" issues and not really suitable for entry into the Lighthouse bug tracker, I might use them as part of a "design document" (which would be a good component of a larger developer handbook for Lernanta).
For now the Help Desk (http://new.p2pu.org/en/groups/p2pu-help-desk/) is the main area to collect user guidance, as well as OSQA.
Written documents such as the old handbook (http://wiki.p2pu.org/w/page/27905271/Course-Design-Handbook) are largely avoided/unread. We want to make help seeking an interactive process.
Sorry, should add that the strength of open source is possibly also its weakness in that it can feel like there are too many cooks in the kitchen sometimes....especially during development. That said, there is nothing better than working with a team on code from the ground up, it's the best way to learn how to program.
So true! In this project, we all have a say but there are some that I personally give more weight to input on like the executive director and the lead developer. But so far having lots of cooks has been working well :)
I have a couple of bugs in mind for you. Let me know when you have the development environment set up and I'll point you to them. Since you have Ruby on Rails experience, you'll do very well with Python/Django, I think!
Hi All,
I first started using computers in theaters in the early 80s, it was one of the first areas of commercial application. I have programmed in DOS...and given pretty much everything in between a shot, I like Ruby on Rails, Ubuntu and have done quite a lot both on back/front end of database design and build. I have also been in technical support on financial software.
Open source matters because I don't really see much of a future for the sale of operating systems since we are reaching the point where we can provide that freely to anyone who needs it, same with software etc.
What excites me about this project is the opportunity to be on the ground floor as the code is developed and Q/A'd. So bring on the bugs!
What operating systems and experiences you have, if you haven't already listed it in your introductory message on the sign-up task.
Windows Vista & Ubuntu 10.10. Some experience with Visual Basic, Html, CSS and Javascript. Currently learning C++, Python and PHP.
Is giving a week to each of the tasks except for coding good at one week?
I believe so.
Also, how do you define open source? If you have good links, that's great. If you have experience, please share it. What are its strengths and weaknesses? Especially from the viewpoint of someone new?
Open-source is a software that is done by a collaboration of programmers who allow the software to be distributed to the public and also allow it to be modified in some ways. From the viewpoint of someone new, I think that its strength is that the software would have a lot of backbone being open-source and for the weaknesses, I guess it still lands on the developers themselves in some ways.
I didn't notice that this started officially, but I have been getting the emails with a subject [Introduciton to Ler...].
I have experience with Mac and Linux, I swore off windows in 2004. I mostly program in Ruby these days, but have experience in PHP and a few other languages as well.
I think weekly is good, not too sure what I'm getting into but want to give this a go on the new site.
Open Source to me means that the user can obtain source code it and modify how it works. Open Sorce does not imply that the software is free or developed in the open.
Based on this, I did an "email everyone" type post to see how everyone was doing with week 2.
Glad to have you on board! Hopefully, you will get to at least install the code, poke around in it, and see how we're doing the bugs. I realize that you have a very hectic schedule but we have bugs of all shapes and sizes ready for the fixing :)
What operating systems and experiences you have, if you haven't already listed it in your introductory message on the sign-up task.
Windows XP and above
A wee bit of Ubuntu
Is giving a week to each of the tasks except for coding good at one week?
For me maybe depends on my schedule to be honest.
Also, how do you define open source? If you have good links, that's great. If you have experience, please share it. What are its strengths and weaknesses? Especially from the viewpoint of someone new?
Anything that is both free and that you can edit as well as share.
No experience with it yet(well formally anyways)...
I love to learn is my strength but from time to time I can be incredibly lazy.
Welcome to the group, Wesley! Looks like you're already on track with getting the source code. Hopefully that is going well.
Also, good to hear that you're using Windows 7! A few of us (including me) develop on Linux so it'd be great to add a walkthrough for Windows based on your feedback. Even better: if you write it up, we can link to it.
A walkthrough of setting up in Windows 7 for dev right? I could try but first I need to download the source code. Email me and we can discuss this further.
Yes. Please post here or on the dev list ( p2pu-dev[at]lists.p2pu.org ) if you run into any problems. Hopefully we all can work together to give those that want to develop on Windows a walkthrough document like those that prefer Linux :)
