5 ms·

One thing I've gotten pretty good at is taking some question I have about some software and answering it by looking through the source. I've wondered whether p

One thing I've gotten pretty good at is taking some question I have about some software and answering it by looking through the source. I've wondered whether people would find it interesting if I showed the process of how I do this. I've wondered whether YouTube might be a good medium for this. Blog articles feel kind of "produced" -- I thought it might be cool to capture the exploratory nature of how this works.

tresil 11y ago
I'd be really interested to see something like this. YouTube probably is the best medium for showing content like this. I can think of a few examples of "expert" coders showing how they work through typical development scenarios, but can't remember coming across anything like this for postgres.
Denzel 11y ago
I'm the same way: take a question and answer with the source. But as my time gets more and more constrained, I wish more large open-source projects had design docs akin to CockroachDB. I read through the CDB design doc in one sitting, then read the source and it was such a treat to have that high-level context while wading through the details. I can't say the same thing for ElasticSearch (or most large open-source projects). It's very difficult to get the high-level context without a well-written design doc explaining why things are the way they are. Some parts of ElasticSearch make sense, and other parts just seem hackneyed. Of course, I could pull together little bits and pieces of high-level insight from multiple disparate blog posts and forums and mailing lists here and there. But what I would like is a design doc! If you were to produce something along the lines of that for open-source projects that need it, I wouldn't hesitate to pay a modest fee.
- egor83 11y ago
  > If you were to produce something along the lines of that > for open-source projects that need it, I wouldn't hesitate > to pay a modest fee. Try BountySource [1] maybe? There you can post a proposal for some improvement to an OSS project (a design doc, in your case) and pledge a bounty for it. If other people have the same problem, they might chip in further, making it more visible/profitable to solve. ---- [1] https://www.bountysource.com/ https://www.bountysource.com/
  - Denzel 11y ago
    Thanks for the link! First time I've seen that marketplace. I'll look into it.
- jeffdavis 11y ago
  Postgres actually has a lot of that kind of documentation in the form of README files in source directories.
  - Denzel 11y ago
    Absolutely! Postgres has amazing documentation. My comment was directed towards other projects. I wish they would follow Postgres's lead.
banach2 11y ago
As a mathematician trying to enter the world of software engineering I think this would be a useful resource!
lallysingh 11y ago
Please go blog for this. I can read a blog anywhere. I don't need headphones. I can pause just by looking away. I can read text at my own pace and look things up. I can even print it out and add notes. You can add the investigative process you used to get there, and note what didn't work and why.

tresil 11y ago

I'd be really interested to see something like this. YouTube probably is the best medium for showing content like this. I can think of a few examples of "expert" coders showing how they work through typical development scenarios, but can't remember coming across anything like this for postgres.

Denzel 11y ago

I'm the same way: take a question and answer with the source. But as my time gets more and more constrained, I wish more large open-source projects had design docs akin to CockroachDB. I read through the CDB design doc in one sitting, then read the source and it was such a treat to have that high-level context while wading through the details. I can't say the same thing for ElasticSearch (or most large open-source projects). It's very difficult to get the high-level context without a well-written design doc explaining why things are the way they are. Some parts of ElasticSearch make sense, and other parts just seem hackneyed. Of course, I could pull together little bits and pieces of high-level insight from multiple disparate blog posts and forums and mailing lists here and there. But what I would like is a design doc! If you were to produce something along the lines of that for open-source projects that need it, I wouldn't hesitate to pay a modest fee.

egor83 11y ago
> If you were to produce something along the lines of that > for open-source projects that need it, I wouldn't hesitate > to pay a modest fee. Try BountySource [1] maybe? There you can post a proposal for some improvement to an OSS project (a design doc, in your case) and pledge a bounty for it. If other people have the same problem, they might chip in further, making it more visible/profitable to solve. ---- [1] https://www.bountysource.com/ https://www.bountysource.com/
- Denzel 11y ago
  Thanks for the link! First time I've seen that marketplace. I'll look into it.
jeffdavis 11y ago
Postgres actually has a lot of that kind of documentation in the form of README files in source directories.
- Denzel 11y ago
  Absolutely! Postgres has amazing documentation. My comment was directed towards other projects. I wish they would follow Postgres's lead.

banach2 11y ago

As a mathematician trying to enter the world of software engineering I think this would be a useful resource!

lallysingh 11y ago

Please go blog for this. I can read a blog anywhere. I don't need headphones. I can pause just by looking away. I can read text at my own pace and look things up. I can even print it out and add notes. You can add the investigative process you used to get there, and note what didn't work and why.