Coding — 2 comments
3
Sep 10
Lately I’ve found myself wondering how to determine the success of an Open Source Software project. These are some of the questions I’ve asked myself:
- Is it about having more or less developers on a project? (Think community)
- Is it about, adding features, committing more or less code and how frequently?
- Is it really just about the software itself – does it work?
Here’s what I’ve found from my experience:
- Many projects have very few long term developers. Usually its 1, 2 or 3 dedicated developers. The rest are what you might call roving mercenaries, with transient memory. Some come back, some don’t. Mostly it’s akin to making a friend on the train, having a good conversation and wondering if you’ll ever see them again. It can be heartbreaking sometimes, and other times you can’t wait for the visitor to leave.
- Hardcore development happens in waves. I’m not sure whether this correlates to having a free week off, or just being in a good mood. One thing is for certain – a good code commit run by one developer gets everyone excited and creates a wave.
- Really good software requires less code commits. This means its stable, relatively bug free and is good as-is i.e. doesn’t require additional features. Maybe this is success?? .. who knows.
I’ve put together a gallery of some open source projects that I like using GitHub‘s impact graphs. Each color indicates a single developer, and the height of the color indicates lines of code committed. It gives you a very rough idea of some of my points. It would be good to hear some of your thoughts.
Coding — No comments
23
Aug 10
I started working on a side project this last week, and I suppose it could be many things, but its really just an online forum.
Why?
I was looking for two things:
- An online African software developer community.
I know it seems redundant since there are so many regular Software Developer forums and cool question/answer sites like Stack Overflow which is one of my favorite.
- A new African open source project to join.
To that end, I started Joozi.com. Yes, I know it seems redundant to start a new developer forum but I realized the African developer community itself has little cohesion. Most devs have little or no support and continue to work in remote outposts. Also, there are so many potentially cool projects waiting for a home. Do you have a home?
Rant — No comments
6
Aug 10
I think I just yanked the word ‘Africanophile‘ out of my rear. In reality, I’m just a disgruntled ‘Japanophile‘ looking for a new master. Japan was the future, and if you can’t remember the future, please look up Blade Runner (Directors Cut). Also, watch it on a laser disc player just for kicks to create that futuristic ambiance. Seriously what happened to Japan? They set the pace and we struggled to keep up. We all loved those digital gadgets, silver, black, minimalistic with tiny little motors that whirred to life when we touched (not flipped) the power. Well… that was the past, and it looks like the land of the Rising Sun is distracted by complacency. Its time for Japan to hire the Seven Samurai.
For the last 2 years I’ve been working on an Open Source project that is very African, and maybe that’s why I’ve become an Africanophile – that and the World Cup of course. It is very exciting to see the massive engine that is Africa, come to life. This is one of those SteamPunk engines with multiple switches and takes about a day to turn on – old, yes, but those horses are begging to be let loose. The amount of talent I’ve seen lately along with the unified stream of consciousness can only mean that the future is here.
I don’t have anything against Japan, my loyalties are just fickle.
