Hey Guys, I've definitely been interested in being a committer for a while now, have build services around a few of the algorithms, however I'm usually at a loss on where to start, maybe docs, I'm interested in building a neural net or genetic algorithm implementation as well as building out an infrastructure that surrounds mahout /graphlab that allows non technical analysts to train data and pick algorithms and make tradeoffs with results. My goal is to build a tool around low level frameworks that bridges the gap for analysts to setup a recommendations plugin that can be embedded into any ecommerce app. Would love to hear best places I can help that are of immediate need.
Sent from my iPhone On Mar 24, 2013, at 10:36 AM, Grant Ingersoll <gsing...@apache.org> wrote: > > On Mar 24, 2013, at 1:31 PM, Sebastian Schelter wrote: > >> Hi Grant, >> >> how would/could such a scale back look like? > > It's a good question and I don't have a good answer. The Recommender stuff > always seems to be the most active (you and Sean do a ton of work!), so that > is one possibility, but I can't see I really like it, since I'm a heavy user > of both clustering and classification (but I really restrict myself to what I > know works). I also use the colocation work and it pretty much just works > too, so that covers a lot of the code base for me. > > In the end, it probably doesn't make sense to scale back, but instead look at > getting more committers on board sooner rather than later. > > -Grant > > > >> >> Best, >> Sebastian >> >> >> On 24.03.2013 18:30, Grant Ingersoll wrote: >>> Personally, I think the bigger issue is that most of the committers (me >>> included) are not very active, so we either need to identify other >>> committers sooner rather than later or really scale back the project to >>> just those areas where we have activity. >>> >>> I know I struggle to find time to contribute, esp. in moving the ball >>> forward on issues that are non-trivial usually requires a significant >>> amount of effort to understand the math, etc. >>> >>> >>> On Mar 24, 2013, at 6:08 AM, Isabel Drost-Fromm wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Hello, >>>> >>>> >>>> this is to those of you using Mahout or lurking on the mailing list >>>> somewhere. >>>> >>>> >>>> In the current Mahout board report [1] it became apparent that Mahout has >>>> a >>>> large number of users. However looking at the dev list there's barely any >>>> activity left: Committers including myself are drowning in help requests >>>> that >>>> they cannot keep up with or have been surprised by life taking away more >>>> of >>>> their time than a few months and years ago. Contributors wait for long >>>> until >>>> they get feedback on patches getting frustrated along the way. >>>> >>>> >>>> In the software world if there are no more resources to support a released >>>> version that version usually is marked as “no longer maintaned”, being >>>> subsequently retired and replaced with a new version. >>>> >>>> >>>> At Apache projects that are lacking resources, energy and support go >>>> through a >>>> similar process: Usually they get moved into the Attic – which means that >>>> mailing lists are closed though archives remain searchable, bug trackers >>>> are >>>> marked as read only. Honestly as a project founder my personal goal for >>>> Mahout >>>> always was to build a sustainable community that would survive core people >>>> having less time for the project at some point in time. I'd be distressed >>>> to >>>> see Mahout go to the Attic. >>>> >>>> >>>> If you are an active Mahout user and want to help – what can you do? >>>> >>>> >>>> At the current point Mahout doesn't need any new algorithms (though high >>>> quality contributions that come with people maintaining them within the >>>> project are of course welcome). What the project needs is much simpler >>>> even >>>> for beginners: >>>> >>>> >>>> - help answering mails on both dev and user list >>>> >>>> - help reviewing patches that come in: Having another contributor say >>>> “yes, >>>> this looks valuable and correct” can be a big help for committers – and >>>> can be >>>> the first step for you to become one yourself. >>>> >>>> - help with documentation – both for developers and users of the project. >>>> >>>> - help with structuring documentation to make it easier for others to find >>>> the >>>> relevant information. >>>> >>>> - help with making our build faster and easier: There are a few quick wins >>>> in >>>> terms of long running unit tests, there certainly are areas that lack >>>> testing. >>>> >>>> - help with code cleanup – there are areas that do not adhere to our >>>> coding >>>> conventions (standard Java, but with two spaces for indentation) – make >>>> changes in small batches >>>> >>>> - help with optimising existing implementations >>>> >>>> - if you truly believe that your algorithm or implementation is faster: Be >>>> bold. Prove that it really is faster for all relevant use cases and work >>>> with >>>> the community to replace existing code with your optimised version. >>>> >>>> >>>> Also help with what areas you are using and what exactly you see missing >>>> is >>>> welcome. >>>> >>>> >>>> It would be awesome to see Mahout gain activity. But in order to achieve >>>> that >>>> the project really does need your help. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Isabel >>>> >>>> >>>> [1] <https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAHOUT/Monthly+Progress> >>> >>> -------------------------------------------- >>> Grant Ingersoll | @gsingers >>> http://www.lucidworks.com > > -------------------------------------------- > Grant Ingersoll | @gsingers > http://www.lucidworks.com > > > > >
