On Apr 27, 2010, at 9:28 PM, Carlos Enrique López Garcés wrote:
Good evening and thanks again for you continuous help.
You're welcome, thanks for the great framing questions below.
I was wondering if you could tell me something about the development
process that the community follows. Maybe there is a philosophy that
people here like most.
Well put!
Some of the topics that might help me more are:
Documentation: I was reading this page in the wiki http://trac.mapnik.org/wiki/DeveloperTodo
, and noticed that the community is interested in using DOXYGEN for
documenting the code.
Personally my development focus so far has been on python api docs,
but we certainly need C++ docs. DOXYGEN is well known. Others may have
ideas?
Unit testing: Is there a C++ framework that the community prefer?
I've used CxxTest, it is a framework similar to JUnit and doesn't
require much effort to install and use. However, it would be fun to
learn some other.
Artem and I have discussed this. I think his idea was using Boost.Test
or other methods of writing C++ using boost.
Source Control: Here I wanted to ask how will the 'Better Print
Support' project be managed. As a branch perhaps? Furthermore, will
it be managed in the same repository as the Mapnik project?
Artem as your lead mentor will decide on this. I am aware he is
currently using git to manage his commits to mapnik-svn, so if you are
interested in git, he could perhaps advise you on this approach.
Integration and releases: How often do you expect a development
cycle to last? I've been advised that a good idea might be to
develop small pieces of functionality, integrate them with the rest
of the code and present them to the community and mentor to receive
feedback and then make the necessary changes.
I think for the first pieces (getting scaling working where feasible),
this approach sounds great.
Design: I am working on a UML diagram in which I'm trying to depict
a general map of the code I've been reading (the renderers mainly).
However, I wanted to ask you if I can be given a copy of design
documents or diagrams you have produced for Mapnik over these years.
The reason I'm doing this is to find the appropriate locations where
the components or objects I will develop should be placed or
interact in.
Good question. I've personally not developed any diagrams (despite
being a visual thinker!), but would love to hear how others have
approached this. Your question could be a good starting point for
discussion.
Communication: Will there be a preferred communication channel for
discussing ideas (IRC, mailing list, direct e-mail, voice/video
chat)? Furthermore, I think it is mandatory to send reports to track
the progress of the project. Is there a special format you expect?
periodicity (weekly, daily)?
Weekly reports are desired. I think a combination of the blog you have
started plus the mapnik-devel mailing list should work well for now.
We will let you know about format details/need for voice/video chat in
the coming weeks.
I don't ask about the code style, because I've been getting familiar
with it. There are also some coding standards I found here: http://trac.mapnik.org/wiki/DeveloperTopics
. However, if there is any resource you think I should read, please
let me know.
That reminds me, we really need to fix the tabs/spaces issue in trunk
asap :).
Thanks,
Carlos López
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