Learning to code with Dreamwidth

[kaberett]

Okay, so several of you have at this point mentioned that you'd like to start learning to code/develop etc with Dreamwidth, or that you'd like to volunteer for Dreamwidth, but you're scared of getting started. I'm doing a lot of work trying to encourage new volunteers at the moment (largely because of the amount of joy I get out of this work!), so -- what would help you feel more comfortable with reaching out and poking around?

(For the record, yes, this is me volunteering to mentor any of you!)

I know that finding the time can be a major issue, and not necessarily something I can help with, but -- as I say, I can mentor; I can point you at people with the knowledge to handle the thing you're trying to deal with; I can introduce you to people in IRC, if you want to hang out there; I can give you a guided tour of the wiki, and make additions to it at your suggestion; I can help you get set up to develop and I can help you choose a bug to work on; I can talk to you about non-dev volunteering options. These are all things I actively want to do for you. So. What can I do? <3

Comments

[oyceter]

Ooooo, thank you! I got my Dreamhack and whatnot up and running (correctly, I think...), but I looked at the bugs and got a little overwhelmed, even when I was only looking at the ones tagged for baby devs. Any guidance with that would be great! I know HTML and CSS and have a little bit of coding background, but I haven't worked with javascript or perl and have been wanting to find a way to dip my toe in without too much scary stuff...

[kaberett]

Oooh, go you!

The way I started with Javascript was actually the Coursera Computer Science 101 course, for what it's worth, which stood me in really good stead when it came to getting my head around similar languages (i.e. having that much JS under my belt meant I could read Perl at least a bit).

In terms of learning your way around Github and your Dreamhack, given what you say about CSS & HTML, I think the three one-liners I'd pull out from the masterlist for you to choose between would be:

• Bug 5217 involves going through DW's styles and checking the CSS to see whether a particular line exists. If it doesn't, you add it. This is very much learning-your-way-around with some honestly kinda tedious repetitive work, but it does at least mean that you can't make anything exciting and incomprehensible go wrong! (Unless you're me.)
  
• Bug 5240 is another case of removing a bit of text from several styles, much like 5217.

If you'd like me to make a decision for you (because I know that three can still be decision paralysis!), I'd probably pick 5217, because it will take the least exploring and double-checking (which I have been known to find nerve-wracking, so). I'm aware that these are bugs which don't do much to introduce you to JS/Perl, and you absolutely don't have to start on things not-in-those-languages (or learn JS elsewhere first!), so let me know if these aren't up your alley & I'll pick out a different selection.

I'm around on IM (kaberett at gmail dot com) and also in Freenode IRC (I can explain how to do that if you would like me to!)

You can absolutely do this ♥

[kaberett]

Oh hmm, 2371 would probably actually be super-appropriate if you did want to dabble with some Perl.

[oyceter]

Sweet, thank you!! I will take a look when I get back home! (Also, thanks to your babydev posts in general! They were a big part of tipping me over from "maaaybe someday" to "request a Dreamhack.")

[kaberett]

BEST COMPLIMENT. <3