FOSS as a "good code" enabler

Jon maddog Hall maddog at li.org
Fri Jul 28 11:03:01 EDT 2006


dragonhawk at gmail.com said:
>   I think you've got a very good point there.  Not just the code, either, but
> the whole experience.  Learning a FOSS project means you have to learn the
> data structures and program flow of someone else's code.  You get to
> appreciate the value of good design and good comments/documentation, and/or
> see how hard the lack of same makes picking up a project.  You also get to
> see, first hand, how software evolves over time, and the consequences of bad
> work.  You also see how abuses and bad assumptions lead to software failures
> in the field.

>   Wow.  This is actually pretty deep stuff.  Another benefit of FOSS. I
> haven't seen this particular angle "sold" before.  Wow.  This is a huge
> point.  FOSS is good because it improves the overall quality of software
> *everywhere*.

I cover this topic in several of my talks.  The side effects are also:

o Going for a job?

	- Showing your coding ability is better than a resume.
	- Allowing your potential employer to see how you interact with others on
	  mailing lists, etc. is a selling point

For example, if I were to look over the gnhlug mail archive for the past couple
of years, I know who I would hire, and who I would not. :-}

This was how Mark Shuttleworth put together his Ubuntu team.  He took the Debian
email archives to Antarctica (where he would not be disturbed) for three months
and scoured through them.

md
-- 
Jon "maddog" Hall
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email: maddog at li.org         80 Amherst St. 
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