3 ms·

You should start by building and shipping something even if it is minimal. Starting an open source project with a post calling to form a team and so on is an an

by gfodor 4y ago

You should start by building and shipping something even if it is minimal. Starting an open source project with a post calling to form a team and so on is an anti-pattern imo. Good OSS projects always should start with code from one or maybe two people that does something useful, and attract contributors from there. Just my 2c, good luck!

kaveh808 4y ago
Thank you. I am thinking of refactoring my existing proof of concept to make it more portable. Currently it's hardwired for CCL and MacOS. Then I may "ship" a release (maybe purely REPL-based) and gather feedback.
- gus_massa 4y ago
  I agree with the GP that it's very difficult to get contributors if the project is not usable. Reading the post in reddit, it looks like just a call for help for an empty project. But looking at the repo linked in the post https://github.com/kaveh808/kons-9 https://github.com/kaveh808/kons-9 and the demo, it looks like you have something that is already working. Also, what does this mean in the readme? > If you're brave enough, change the pathnames in main.lisp and eval the buffer. I see no pathnames in https://github.com/kaveh808/kons-9/blob/main/main.lisp https://github.com/kaveh808/kons-9/blob/main/main.lisp I don't use CL, so perhaps I'm missing something, or it's an outdated instruction. Another important thing to get users (and later contributor) is a complete idiot proof method to install the project and run the demo [1]. something like "git clone & make demo" or whatever is the correct syntax for that spell. [1] I recommend to read an old post by Joel Spolsky https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/26/designing-for-people-who-have-better-things-to-do-with-their-lives/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/26/designing-for-peop...
  - kaveh808 4y ago
    I had hoped including a link to the repo would show that it wasn't an empty project, but I could probably have done better. That instruction is indeed outdated. It is from before the system had ASDF. I do need to update the Readme file. I used to follow Joel's blog back in the day.
    - gfodor 4y ago
      Yes I think you should spend some time cleaning up your PoC into a real, usable project. Write a nice readme, get it so anyone can run it quickly and easily, etc. In my most recent github project I released [1] I also used DALL-E to make a nice header to the README, which can also help make it feel like a solid thing to be worth checking out imo. [1] https://github.com/gfodor/p2pcf https://github.com/gfodor/p2pcf
      - kaveh808 4y ago
        Cleaning up the code organization and making a release is number one on my list of development tasks. It will also serve as a starting point for design discussions.
- ngcc_hk 4y ago
  Even if it is hard wired as long as it works and a lot of us using macOS, it is a start. Just a warning the whole thing will change is good. Open is for others to be involved. In fact I am ok to play with Ccl and macOS.

by gfodor 4y ago

kaveh808 4y ago

Thank you. I am thinking of refactoring my existing proof of concept to make it more portable. Currently it's hardwired for CCL and MacOS. Then I may "ship" a release (maybe purely REPL-based) and gather feedback.

gus_massa 4y ago
I agree with the GP that it's very difficult to get contributors if the project is not usable. Reading the post in reddit, it looks like just a call for help for an empty project. But looking at the repo linked in the post https://github.com/kaveh808/kons-9 https://github.com/kaveh808/kons-9 and the demo, it looks like you have something that is already working. Also, what does this mean in the readme? > If you're brave enough, change the pathnames in main.lisp and eval the buffer. I see no pathnames in https://github.com/kaveh808/kons-9/blob/main/main.lisp https://github.com/kaveh808/kons-9/blob/main/main.lisp I don't use CL, so perhaps I'm missing something, or it's an outdated instruction. Another important thing to get users (and later contributor) is a complete idiot proof method to install the project and run the demo [1]. something like "git clone & make demo" or whatever is the correct syntax for that spell. [1] I recommend to read an old post by Joel Spolsky https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/26/designing-for-people-who-have-better-things-to-do-with-their-lives/ https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2000/04/26/designing-for-peop...
- kaveh808 4y ago
  I had hoped including a link to the repo would show that it wasn't an empty project, but I could probably have done better. That instruction is indeed outdated. It is from before the system had ASDF. I do need to update the Readme file. I used to follow Joel's blog back in the day.
  - gfodor 4y ago
    Yes I think you should spend some time cleaning up your PoC into a real, usable project. Write a nice readme, get it so anyone can run it quickly and easily, etc. In my most recent github project I released [1] I also used DALL-E to make a nice header to the README, which can also help make it feel like a solid thing to be worth checking out imo. [1] https://github.com/gfodor/p2pcf https://github.com/gfodor/p2pcf
    - kaveh808 4y ago
      Cleaning up the code organization and making a release is number one on my list of development tasks. It will also serve as a starting point for design discussions.
ngcc_hk 4y ago
Even if it is hard wired as long as it works and a lot of us using macOS, it is a start. Just a warning the whole thing will change is good. Open is for others to be involved. In fact I am ok to play with Ccl and macOS.