Perl Monk Hackers

[srawls]

I've noticed that there are a lot of good suggestions as to updates to the site, but many times people reply with a message like "nice, but vroom is probably too busy for that." I know it takes a lot to code this site, so I got to thinking...

Would it be possible to have something analogous to the Site Documentation Clan, but for people to help code the site. That is, write the necsasary code to implement some of the ideas that are suggested. I know this might be a security problem, so here are a few ideas:

1. The people in this group would vote on what ideas to implement (with the consent of vroom of course).
2. They would not actually upload the code, they would send it to vroom (in some way to be determined), for his approval.
3. Obviously you don't want to send the whole code if it is just a minor change, so this group could work out a procedure, like using diff or something of that sort.

Those are just a few ideas that came to my head as I was writing this, if you have any more please feel free to reply with them.

I was thinking that mabey vroom would pick members for this group like he did for the editors, those of the community that are trustworthy and hard-working. We could also take volunteers, after vroom has approved them.

There is one thing missing from my proposal: a good name for this group. I started to suggest 'Perl Monk Hackers,' but felt that might be a little vauge as to what this group does. I am very open to suggestions, and encorouge you to post a good and thoughtful name.

Gee... after reading over this post, I began to think: wouldn't it be the ultimate irony if someone replies to this saying "nice idea, but vroom doesn't have the time to implement it" : )

The 15 year old, freshman programmer,
Stephen Rawls

[tadman]

There's nothing to stop anyone here from grabbing a fresh copy of the Everything Core and making their own modules for it. I've tinkered around with it somewhat, and although the learning curve is not unlike rock climbing, once you get a handle on it you can really go places fast. Don't expect a book from O'Reilly on the subject any time soon. This is cutting edge, and the documentation is way behind the program.

Assuming one were bold enough to grab the kit, install it, and whatnot, you can write your own "modules" for it that are easy to package and distribute. These are called, whimsically, "nodeballs", and can be installed in a snap. At least in theory.

So, if you're really feeling energetic, grab it, make something neat. There's no point in going on about "wouldn't it be great if..." when you actually could be doing something about it.

[srawls]

Thanks for the information, I didn't even know you could do that! Sadly, though, I cannot use it: I don't have apache, and when I went to download that, I didn't have some other thing, and when I went to download that, my system didn't have the right dll's. Oh well, mabey if I ever get around to getting a unix system I can use it.

The 15 year old, freshman programmer,
Stephen Rawls

[tadman]

Installing it is never easy. However, if UNIX is the major hurdle, you can always run it side-by-side on your current system in a multi-boot fashion, or even at the same time using a virtual machine program like VMWare which offers a 30 day trial download. That way you really don't have to do much at all, and if you have a spare 3GB drive, you can install onto it without repartitioning.

Since Apache, Perl, and MySQL are all available for Windows, though, there is no real reason why Everything cannot be ported to the Windows environment. The only issue might be compiling some of the modules it uses, but a friend with a compiler would solve that problem.

Just a thought.

[zdog]

Several thoughts:
1. I don't think that cutting and pasting code is too difficult for even making small changes. Each node (container, superdoc, etc) or opcode is a fairly small piece of code and is pretty easy to manage as far as updating.
2. As far as the name, I believe that vroom and several other monks have been using the term developers to describe the would-be group.
3. Finally, if no one will be able to edit the actual source or view the MySQL database, then I see no reason why there should be only a select group that can view the source. Why not make it so that all people can submit there own changes? or post their updated code in Perl Monks Discussion for comments/suggestions?

Zenon Zabinski | zdog | [e-mail]

[srawls]

Good point, mabey everyone can submit changes, and only a select group can change the code? Mabey only root can change the code? I don't konw, but if those who make decisions like this idea, I'm sure we can come up with something. As for the name, I was not aware of that until neshura /msg'ed me, and I think it's a good name. Thanks for your suggestions.

The 15 year old, freshman programmer,
Stephen Rawls

[voyager]

Since the site is based on the Everything Engine, there may be good arguments to be made for not doing too much customizaiton.

That being said, I agree that given Perl, open-source, blah, blah, blah, that if there are people willing (and demonstrably able) to make the enhancements, then good ideas (how to determine this?) shouldn't languish because any individual is too busy.

[zdog]

I don't think that you can say that this site is based on the Everything Engine. It is a very customizable tool for making interactive web sites. Practically any kind of web site you can dream of. Much of the features of PerlMonks are not even included in the Everything Core. They were made into nodeballs by vroom based on the innovations made on this web site. I don't think that the Everything Engine's point was to limit customization, but to make it easier. And that's why I don't think your argument is valid.

Zenon Zabinski | zdog | [e-mail]

[tachyon]

I like the idea. Maybe send him a /msg pointing to here so he sees it

tachyon

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