On 12-10-24, at 16:28 , "Dennis E. Hamilton" <[email protected]> wrote:
> @Regina, > > Yes, Wizard is a reference to the level of mastery that a solver must > possess, and is one of those "which one of these words does not belong" > solutions. > > There is a well-known *logarithmic* difficulty scale that has been used > over 40 years for problem difficulty. It might be worth adapting: > > (after unknown), > > 00 easy - immediately solvable by someone willing to do it > 10 simple - takes minutes > 20 medium, average - quarter hour > 30 moderate, an evening > 40 difficult, challenging, non-trivial (term project, GSoC...) > 50 unsolved, deep, requires a breakthrough, research > (PhD dissertation) > 60 intractable (that I just made up - probably not something that > is technically feasible regardless of skill, Nobel Prize, > P = NP, etc.) > > I suspect this scale has too much at the low end and perhaps not > enough steps at the high end. Perhaps there are two factors - skills and > work factor - how long for someone of the necessary skills? Or else > work factor is suggestive of the level of skill? > > easy - minutes (fixing a typo on a web page) > simple - hour(s) > moderate - days > difficult, challenging - weeks > hard, demanding - months > stubborn - years (aka, intractable) > > All of these assume fluency with basic tools and facility with the subject > matter of the issue. > > For example, fixing change-tracking is at least hard. > > - Dennis > One aspect that has been used and not used enough is to consider this in light of how a student or neophyte might approach the task and whether it demands the added help a mentor can offer. Louis > > -----Original Message----- > From: Regina Henschel [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2012 13:04 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [PROPOSAL] "difficulty" field for Bugzilla > > Hi Rob, > > Rob Weir schrieb: >> As you have probably noticed, I'm engaged in a variety of initiatives >> to grow the community, bring in more volunteers, etc. One additional >> piece that I think would be useful is to add a new field to Bugzilla >> to indicate the difficulty level of the bug. Of course, this will >> often not be known. But in some cases, we do know, and where we do >> know we can indicate this. >> >> What this allows us to do is then have search filters that return only >> open easy bugs. These are ideal for new developer volunteers on the >> project who are looking for items that match their lesser familiarity >> with the code. It also allows a developer to step up to more >> challenging bugs over time. >> >> A similar approach, which they called "easy hacks", was successfully >> used by LibreOffice. >> >> If there are no objections, I'll add a new field to Bugzilla called >> "cf_difficulty_level", and which a drop down UI with the following >> choices: >> >> UNKNOWN (default) >> TRIVIAL >> EASY >> MODERATE >> HARD >> WIZARD > > WIZARD is used in AOO UI in the meaning of 'assistant' or step by step > workflow. Therefore it might be not understood here. I need to look up > other meanings in a dictionary. I would drop it. HARD as highest step is > sufficient. > > TRIVIAL sounds devaluating to me. Perhaps BEGINNER or STARTER is more > neutral? Being able to start is not only a question, whether the task is > easy or not from an objective point of view. Beyond that a mentor is > needed. Perhaps a category MENTORED instead of TRIVIAL is useful. A > senior developer would set it (and put himself in CC) if he is willing > to guide a newcomer. > >> >> (I'm certainly open to variations on the names) >> >> I'd then rely on other developers to help "seed" the database with >> some TRIVIAL and EASY bugs, so new volunteers will have something to >> work with as they familiarize themselves with the project. >> >> I'll wait 72 hours, etc. > > In general I thing it is a good idea. Using Bugzilla has the advantage, > that it is not necessary to hold a Wiki page in sync with Bugzilla. > > Kind regards > Regina >
