From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,7bcba1db9ed24fa7 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-07-12 01:16:30 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!newsfeed.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news.tele.dk!193.251.151.101!opentransit.net!proxad.net!feeder2-1.proxad.net!nnrp4.proxad.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Sender: briot@berlin.int.act-europe.fr Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Contributing patches to GPL Ada projects (was: Is Ada dead?) References: From: Emmanuel Briot Message-ID: X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.7/Emacs 20.4 Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 08:16:29 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 213.228.58.169 X-Complaints-To: abuse@proxad.net X-Trace: nnrp4.proxad.net 994925789 213.228.58.169 (Thu, 12 Jul 2001 10:16:29 CEST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 10:16:29 CEST Organization: Guest of ProXad - France Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:9856 Date: 2001-07-12T08:16:29+00:00 List-Id: "McDoobie" writes: > I'm all for supporting and patching GVD and such. I'd love to help. The > problem is that my coding skills arent the greatest at the moment. > > What can I do as a novice Ada developer to help in these projects? > > I'd help with the Emacs mode, but I'm more of a vi person. ;-> Let's not waste such a high motivation :-) Besides actual coding, such projects are always lacking help in several areas: - most important is documentation, generally. Especially when, like GVD, they were done by people whose native language is not english (we had some people proof-read the documentation, but I am sure it could be improved) - As Robert was saying, in the case of GNAT: porting to other platforms, and provide binaries for other platforms. This does require a good knowledge of the compilation process, but not necessarily good coding skills. - In the specific case of GVD: port to other debuggers (we currently only have gdb and part of jdb, it would be nice to have others like dbx, ...). This doesn't necessarily require a lot of coding, since most of the work can be based on the code for gdb, after adapting some regular expressions, and a few parsing procedures. That would help tremendously, since we do not have such debuggers. - Of course, detailed bug reports (preferably with code to reproduce) always help to improve the global stability of a product. Enhancement ideas are always welcome (check the TODO file in the gvd distribution first to ensure the ideas are not already there). - Even if you don't feel too sure of your Ada, I am sure you would still be able to contribute, if you really need a feature. Do try it, that's the best way to learn anyway. - Other projects might have other needs, you should contact their authors. Emmanuel